NU: Red-X Redux
by 26-Lord-Pain
Summary: AU, X-Over. An incident leaves Raven with questions for Starfire, what is revealed is a future very different than what she was first told. From this minor alteration of a familiar story the world of the Titans is forever changed. Pairings undecided.
1. X

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Prologue**_ : _**"X"**_ …

00

It's a dark and quiet night in Jump City. Many of her citizens sleep, some mill about their jobs. But some remain awake and ever vigil. These are the ones known as this fair city's protectors. They are known as the Teen Titans. They are on a simple patrol. Cyborg and Beast Boy ride in the T-Car. Robin rides his R-Cycle. Finally Raven and Starfire take to the skies. They are about to end and go home, when a silent alarm goes off at the docks…

00

Voice: _Its simple, there is good and there is evil. There are those who commit crimes, and those who stop them._

00

They arrive to find the doors of the warehouse, heavily fortified, and yet forced open with brute strength. They arrive just in time to see a wisp of black slip within. The team cautiously makes their way into the warehouse. They head down a long hall, a flash of red the only visible evidence of an intruder. Cyborg activates a flashlight on his shoulder as they continue into the darkness of the warehouse…

00

Voice: _The two sides are opposite, as different as night and day._

00

They make their way through the warehouse. They find a grate on a vent ripped open and Robin quickly determines the route their intruder took with his palm top computer. With a nod the team move out, further into the warehouse. They find the route blocked by what appears to have been a net of laser trip wires. However, mirrors have been placed around the edges to allow someone through. The team pushed onwards, though Cyborg accidentally knocked the mirrors loose…

00

Voice: _The line between them is perfectly clear. Or at least… it's supposed to be._

00

The team sees in the distance, a figure with sparking hands grip a terminal. The terminal flashes for a moment before it turns dark. The door slides open and a dark figure slinks inside the newly revealed room. The titans follow, though BB can't help but notice he can't smell the thief at all. Or even hear footsteps as he moves. But as they enter the room Starfire gasps as a familiar figure turns to face them and is fully revealed…

00

Voice: _But its not…_

00

It was Red-X, or at least a variation of Red-X. However while it visibly resembled the Red-X they had faced once before, it was clearly different. This one stood taller than Robin, and was in a very different suit than the leader of the Titans had worn. First of all, rather than spandex, this suit appeared to be made of an odd almost rubbery material. It was deep black in color and seemed like it would blend in well with the shadows.

White metal plates line the wrist and forearms. Rectangular white plates form a 'belt' of sorts, and smaller plates cover the knuckles of his hands. Diamond shaped plates line his spine and attach to the back of his mask. Two large white plates line his outer thighs. More of the white metal covers his mask in the familiar shape of a jawless skull.

Unlike the previous Red-X, the X on his mask crosses over both eyes and meets at his forehead. More Red-X's lay over his palms and connect to the ones on the backs of his hands, over his feet, and across his upper torso and connect to another on his back. Grey padding covered his knees and elbows, with thick black padding over his shoulders.

Finally he had a long beaten and battered trench coat with frayed edges overtop the suit, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, obviously in place of the cape of the original suit.

"Wait, that suit…" Starfire whispered to herself. However she then blinked as Robin stepped forward.

"Red X?" Robin breathed with wide eyes. He had never thought he'd see that suit, or at least a suit so similar, ever again.

"Whoa, looks like X got an upgrade," BB murmured with wide eyes. The thief in question chuckled lightly and then raised his arms.

"Got that right," the thief replied. He then pointed his arms at the titans and a pair of bright red beams shot from his wrists at them. As one the Titans leaped away from the beams as they tore two gashes of earth from the ground. The titans landed, or floated after the beam had passed and looked to their leader. Robin narrowed his eyes on the skull-masked thief and pointed at him.

"Titans go!" he ordered then reached back to pull his collapsible staff from his belt and lunged at the thief. However before Robin could reach the thief he vanished in a static flash. Robin came to a sudden stop and quickly looked for the thief only to grunt as a kick connected with his mid-section and knocked him on his ass. Robin looked up to see X and could all but feel the smirk under his mask.

"What? Did you expect me to just stand there and take it?" the skull masked thief quipped jovially. Robin twitched, growled, and then lunged at the thief. He swung his staff at the taller teen only for him to effortlessly dodge to either side to avoid them. The thief paused as Raven launched several dark tendrils at his back. X merely vanished in static flash with a chuckle.

Raven looked to either side to find the thief, then paused at a sudden whistle from above. She looked up and then felt her brain lurch to a halt when she noticed that somehow Red-X was now standing while upside down on the ceiling. She was only certain he was really upside down because his coat was still affected by gravity. The skull-masked thief idly looked up (down?) and raised (lowered?) a hand to wave at her mockingly.

"Yo," he offered cheerfully. Raven continued to stare, until she noticed a beam of energy sail towards X. However the thief vanished in a static flash before the beam could connect. She turned to see Cyborg with his sonic cannon raised, who shrugged, equally baffled by what the thief had just done. A second later said theif reappeared in front of Raven and backhanded her to the side.

The girl tumbled for a moment and then looked up at him sharply. X had his arms crossed and his head tilted to the side. "Bit of advice, don't broadcast all your attacks with magic words," he offered jokingly. Raven's brow twitched and she raised her hands. Hands of black energy rose from the ground and tried to grasp the thief. However he flipped back and out of their grasp.

He landed in a low crouch while Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at him again. However X noticed it from the corner of his eye and vanished in yet another static flash. Cyborg blinked and turned on his cybernetic eye. Last time they dealt with X he'd been able to turn invisible, if he could find him he could… Before the Titanium Teen could react a pair of electrified hands grasped his head from behind.

The teen screamed in pain as his body was electrocuted. At the same time his systems suddenly went haywire. The thief behind him held onto his head until finally Cyborg fell to the side, his single good eye rolled back into his head as he passed out. He slammed into a wooden crate, shattering it, and the thief grabbed up an object from it. X whistled to himself as he slipped the object into his coat pocket and then brushed off his hands.

"Might want to get a better surge protector, tin man," the masked thief quipped playfully. He then grunted as a green bull slammed into him from the side. The masked thief turned to BB and raised a brow. The green teen turned bull snorted and dragged a hoof across the floor menacingly. X practically snickered as he flipped back to his feet and pulled off his coat. He then waved the tattered coat as if it were a matador's cape.

"Toro toro!" he declared teasingly. BB narrowed his eyes and lunged forward with a primal roar. X merely narrowed his eyes and then chuckled as the green beast approached. "Olay!" he crowed and tossed the coat at him before he vanished in a static flash. BB ran into the coat only to quickly throw it to the side with his horns.

However BB's eyes widened comically as he slammed face first into a metal beam that'd been behind the thief. He returned to his human form with a groan and slid down into a crumpled heap. X reappeared with a laugh, sans coat. He took a moment to clutch at his sides from laughter and then wiped a mock tear from his eye. He then leaned down towards the green titan with obvious mirth.

"Here's a tip green bean, never rush in head first, it only leads to a headache," the thief advised. He then turned just as Robin swung his bo-staff at his head. X activated a pair of blades that shot out from his wrists to catch the staff and held the boy wonder at bay. Robin growled and glared heatedly at the masked thief.

"Who are you?" he gritted out. X raised a brow and then chuckled.

"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" he quipped playfully. He then head butted the shorter teen. The blow disorientated Robin long enough for the thief to duck down and sweep his legs out from under him. He then twisted up and kicked Robin away before he rolled back into a crouch. "Too easy chuckles," he stated with a shake of his head. However he then looked up to see a pair of black hands over him.

"Oh my," he stated. He then looked down to see Raven with glowing white eyes. The girl stared him down and brought the black hands down on top of him. However the thief suddenly appeared behind the girl and shoved her hood over her face. She yelped and stumbled forward to remove the offending material while X beamed.

"Aww, you actually took my advice that's adorable!" he quipped cheerfully. He then flipped over a black energy blade from the girl and landed in a crouch. He then looked up and raised his arms to block several green balls of energy. He narrowed his eyes at the orange skinned alien hanging overhead then vanished in another static flash. He suddenly appeared over the girl and grabbed her from behind.

"Hello there, cutie," he stated flirtatiously, with an unseen wink. Starfire blinked rapidly and then looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, are you…" she began, only for X to suddenly shift their combined weight. He pulled them into a dive and flipped off of her as she slammed into another crate. She slammed into it and left her legs sticking out, which kicked at the air as she tried to get loose. With a snicker to himself, X sauntered to where Raven and Robin still stood.

"C'mon kids," he urged then tapped to his chest, "X marks the spot," he quipped. Robin growled and tossed several birdarangs at the masked thief. However X merely threw his arms back. There was a sudden crimson glow around his hands as eight X-shuriken formed between his fingers. He then flung them forward to block the birdarangs while Robing rushed him from the side.

X turned in time to be knocked to the ground where Robin grabbed his mask. The boy wonder smirked down at the thief as he tried to find a switch or latch on the mask / helmet he was wearing. "Let's find out who's really under thi…" he began only to scream as several volts of electricity suddenly surged through him. X merely watched for a moment and then chuckled darkly.

"Really kid, you didn't really think it'd be that easy, did you?" X quipped dryly. He then kicked the boy wonder from his person and flipped back to his feet. Robin panted heavily on the ground while X turned to Raven. The dark bird narrowed her eyes while she could practically feel his grin. She summoned her powers and covered the area in her magic then brought it inwards on the thief.

X whistled for a moment, only to vanish in another static flash just as Raven was about to catch him. The violet eyed bird felt her brow twitch and exhaled deeply. "That is such a cheap move," she muttered under her breath. She then stilled and looked to the side as someone tapped her on her shoulder. X stood there in a casual pose. He idly buffed his knuckles on his chest and then looked at her with an obvious grin.

"I think it works just fine," he quipped humorously. Raven swung her arm at the thief, only for him to catch her wrist with one hand. She blinked, then stared at him for a moment and then sighed in resignation.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" she questioned. X mutely nodded his head and then quickly turned and tossed the girl to the side. She landed back first against a crate and groaned. She then sighed tiredly. "Ow," she uttered blandly. X snickered and then grunted as a concentrated beam of green energy slammed into him.

"Okay that actually stung a bit," he admitted to himself. He placed a hand to his head as he got back onto his feet. However seconds later a familiar golden skinned girl had him by his throat, eyes glowing bright green. "Uh oh… I know that look," he muttered under his breath. The golden skinned girl merely rolled her eyes and raised a hand. She made a complicated gesture and stuck two fingers into the teeth of his skull mask.

She then lifted her hand until she heard a sudden click.

"Hey wait… how do you even know how to do that," he demanded. However the girl merely ignored him and lifted the skull portion of his mask up. Revealed beneath is a crimson semi-transparent material with an array of different images across it. It vaguely resembles a HUD(Heads up display) with various information scattered across it. Regardless the alien powerhouse reared her arm back to throw a punch at the thief's face.

However X quickly gripped her other wrist and she screamed as she was hit by a sudden surge of electricity. Her knees wobbled for a moment before she finally buckled and fell down. X himself landed on his feet and lowered the skull portion of his mask back down. A frown crossed his lips under his mask as he stared at the girl as she lay there panting. He narrowed his eyes and idly rubbed at his wrist.

"Sorry cutie, but you could be a problem later," he muttered. He then formed several more X shurikens into his hand, only for Robin to knock him away from her. The two tumbled for a moment before X kicked the boy wonder away and rolled into a crouch. Robin landed in a crouch opposite him and both narrowed their eyes. "Okay so I might've underestimated you kids just a tiny bit," he admitted to himself.

Robin didn't bother to listen. Instead he tossed several birdarangs at the thief. _'Not this again,'_ X thought with a roll of his eyes. He tossed his X-Shuriken at the birdarangs to stop them only to grunt as an explosive disk went off in the middle of the birdarangs. The thief sat up with a groan and brought a hand to his head.

"Okay, didn't expect that," he admitted. He then looked up as Robin pulled out his bo-staff once more. X unlocked his wrist blades and rolled out of the way of the boy wonder's first attack. He then flipped onto his feet and blocked the second blow with his blades. He held the boy wonder back and kept his footing stable. "So kid, know what advise I have for you?" he questioned. Robin scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

"What?" he grit out. X smirked beneath his mask and ducked to the side. Robin fell forward and the thief grabbed his cape and pulled it up and over him. The boy wonder was pulled up and lost his footing, thus slammed face first into the ground with a groan. The thief snickered to himself and brushed off his hands.

"No capes," he stated plainly. Robin felt his brow twitch as he turned into a sweeping kick. However the thief vanished in a static flash and reappeared by his coat. He picked it up and slipped it back on with a flourish. "Now I'd love to stay and play with you guys some more," X declared even as Robin rushed back onto his feet and lunged at him. "But I think this little test run worked out perfectly," he stated. He then gave a mock salute.

"So better luck next time," he declared. Robin sprinted forward while X grinned beneath his mask and added, "if there even is a next time," with that he vanished in a static flash just as Robin's hand swiped at him. Once the thief was gone Robin halted and then frowned deeply. He looked to the sides where his team lay incapacitated for a moment, and then up to a nearby camera…

00

"Play it again," Robin insisted with a scowl. Cyborg groaned and palmed his face.

"Man it ain't any better after the first fifteen times I saw my butt get whooped by that guy," he grumbled in response. Robin shot a look at the titanium teen and he let out a defeated sigh. "New-X whoops our butts, take sixteen," he grumbled and hit play. The recording of their fight played out exactly as it had the previous times. They chased the then unknown thief into a warehouse, X revealed himself, and they got beat, badly beat.

Unlike his cybernetic friend, Robin narrowed his eyes. He saw subtle things that his friend clearly hadn't noticed. Most of all being how different X fought when compared to him when he wore the original suit. He hummed and leaned forward with a frown. The X-Shuriken, the static gauntlets, the wrist mounted blasters, wrist blades, even the cloaking device were different from the original model.

"He still has my old teleport device, but it looks like he replaced everything else with something new or phased it out of the design completely," he mumbled aloud. He wouldn't admit it but he was a bit insulted by that. He'd designed the X-Suit to be a perfect counter to all of his friends' powers. Sure he wasn't proud of why he did it, but it was still an incredible piece of tech.

Cyborg idly glanced at his leader and then checked the recording and frowned. "Yeah… what about the armor on this suit? Did you have that as part of it hidden or something?" the titanium teen questioned. Robin grunted in response. He'd wanted to add armor or at least some padding to the suit, but he'd thought better of it. A thief who showed up with a suit too advanced to be explained would've given Slade cause to be suspicious.

It hadn't mattered in the end but it was the principle…

"No, that kind of Flex-Armor is hard enough to come by. I didn't want to make it too obvious that I put a lot of work into the suit. Slade would've been on his guard if the suit looked like I dumped tons of money into it. That's partially why I modeled it after a Comic-Book character, rather than invent a totally new identity," the boy wonder admitted. That and it would've made him too heavy for some of his acrobatics.

"What comic-book character looks like that?" Cyborg demanded. Robin rolled his eyes and typed on a nearby terminal. He brought up a picture of a character from _**Dark Horse Comics**_ , by the name of _**X**_. Cyborg looked at the character and hummed lightly. There was a slight resemblance, although the comic character looked a bit more… dangerous, really. The guns and spikes certainly painted a vivid picture of how he acted anyways.

"Huh… you learn something new everyday," Cyborg mumbled to himself. Beast Boy took that moment to perch himself on the back of Cy's chair. He bent forward to look down to his friend with a raised brow.

"Dudes seriously, what are you looking for with all this?" the green teen questioned. Robin crossed his arms and sat back in his chair with a frown.

"Not sure," he admitted. Cyborg snorted and rubbed his head.

"I personally think Rob just wants to figure out what all he can do," the titanium teen admitted. Said bird themed titan just grumbled under his breath. BB idly nodded then scratched his head.

"So we ever going to talk about how this guy grabbed your suit, and that thermal blaster thing?" he questioned curiously. Robin grunted in annoyance and brought up a security video from several months prior. There was static before the video cleared up to show the interior of the Titan's Evidence Room. They watched the video silently for some time yet nothing seemed to happen. "Uh dude," BB began. Robin held up a finger to silence him.

"Watch," he ordered. He then sped up the video, only to halt as someone kicked a vent open. The mystery assailant dropped down and quickly set to work. He pulled a duffle bag from the vent and smashed one of the glass cases. He quickly grabbed the Thermal Blaster and stuffed it into the bag. He then went over to a large safe with a skull and an X on it and started to work on the keypad.

"When did this happen?" BB questioned. Robin frowned in response.

"Back when Terra ran us out of town," the boy wonder replied. Beast Boy winced while Cyborg frowned deeply. He remembered how they hadn't been able to really work from the tower at that point. But he also hadn't really thought about what'd happened to the tower while they were away. Slade had had control, but he hadn't bothered with the tower for the most part… unless he left a few surprises for them.

' _I'm going to scan the shit out of the tower later,'_ he decided resolutely. If for no other reason then so he could prevent any nasty surprises from popping up. That mask of Slade's had been more than enough for the titanium teen. Still, that would be for later. "So how is it you didn't mention that some of our shit got jacked while we were gone?" the titanium teen demanded. Robin looked at Cyborg with a flat expression.

"Cyborg we were out of commission for weeks. Slade had Terra, who had our security codes. The tower was thereby left completely defenseless," the boy wonder reminded. Cyborg grunted but had to concede that his leader had a point. "Aside from that, I honestly expected more to be missing when we got back," he admitted. Cyborg and BB looked at him curiously, but the leader of the titans didn't bother to elaborate.

Instead they both turned back to the video as a sudden explosion caused the safe to come off of its hinges. The large door fell down while the thief avoided it and then stepped into a room. Within was a very familiar skull faced suit, which was quickly taken and stuffed into the duffle bag. The unknown thief then retreated from the room, slipped back into the vent and vanished. Once the thief had gone Robin shut off the video with a scowl.

"He snuck in despite the fact we weren't here," he grumbled under his breath. BB frowned to himself.

"Seems kind of redundant and maybe even a little paranoid," the green teen noted aloud. Cyborg blinked and stared at the green teen.

"I'm honestly surprised you know the meaning of those words," he admitted. BB looked at him as if insulted, which Cy ignored. "Besides that, he probably didn't want us to catch his face on camera," Cyborg offered with a shrug. Robin mentally agreed with the idea. It made sense and given how good X appeared to be he wouldn't put it passed him. Still, he but brought up their fight with Red-X once more.

He studied the fight intently and realized X's arsenal had gotten a downgrade if anything.

"He stopped using my weapon systems," the boy wonder mused.

"So?" Beast Boy questioned. Robin turned to the green teen with a frown.

"My weapon system used a gel that could be hardened or made acidic with an electrical signal. The new system X is using limits the abilities of his shuriken greatly. All of his Shuriken are hard and sharp, true, but he doesn't have the Static X's or Explosive X's anymore," the boy wonder explained. Cyborg looked to the two with a smirk.

"He also don't have that goop that got in your do BB," he added playfully. Beast Boy idly reached up to ran a hand through his hair and chuckled.

"Thank goodness for that dude, once was more than enough for me," he declared with a nod. "Took months to grow it all back," he added. He then looked at Robin with a frown. "You know dude, you never apologized for that," he noted. Robin ignored him and focused on the weapons X used in their fight.

"Thermal Blasters, Flex-Armor combined with an odd padded bodysuit thicker than the spandex I used, wrist mounted blades that can fold into the gauntlets, X-Shuriken, a cloaking device, teleport device, and what looks suspiciously like the Electrocutioner's Shock Gauntlets," Robin murmured darkly. BB rolled his eyes, not surprised he'd been ignored then focused on one of those gadgets in particular.

"Dude, where does someone even get a cloaking device?" BB questioned the grinned, "no seriously, I want one!" he declared. His two friends shot a look at him and his ears lowered. "Heh heh… just joking," he stated and then slunk away. Robin hummed and turned back to the video. As Red-X turned invisible an idea came to mind and he glanced over to Cyborg.

"Did you get a scan of him when he was cloaked?" he questioned. The titanium teen nodded and pulled a wire from his arm. He plugged it into the computer and uploaded the readout from his scan of X while cloaked to the computer. Cy inclined his head and then started to type rapidly on the terminal.

"Yeah… now can someone tell me how he stood on the fucking ceiling like that?" he demanded with a finger pointed at the screen. Robin blinked and then shrugged his shoulders. He'd honestly never encountered someone who did that, at least not with tech they didn't. Even with their modern advancements and limited exposure to aliens, tech had its limits after all.

"No idea," he admitted. Cyborg grunted and muttered to himself. That was going to bug him until he figured out how X did it. He was currently running with the theory that he had some kind of micro-magnets in his boots soles that allowed him to adhere to metallic surfaces. However it was untested, if X could walk on surfaces aside from metal it would be clear it wasn't magnetic in nature…

' _Not to mention he'd have to reinforce the suit to prevent tearing, then there's the power it'd need to actually keep him up there,'_ he admitted to himself. It would be an expensive use of power to be honest. Then again he had other things to worry about as he reviewed the footage. "That Flex-Armor of his, it seems almost like what Blackfire wears under her clothes," the titanium teen noted aloud. Robin blinked and then narrowed his eyes.

"That's a good point, I honestly hadn't considered that before," he admitted. He brought up their files on Blackfire and narrowed his eyes. "It has roughly the same range of movement," he noted to himself. However he then frowned as he noticed how little of the suit was covered in the 'flex-armor'. "Although he wears so little plating that can be disregarded entirely," Robin added. Cyborg nodded his head.

"Yeah, Blackie wore armor all over, he wears a lot less but he still has that weird rubber stuff all over him," he noted aloud. Robin nodded his head and brought up a 3D model of the new Red-X in his suit. It vaguely reminded him of something from one of those videogames BB and Cy played. He turned it all around and narrowed his eyes on the arms. He could easily recall how his arms were electrified during their fight with him.

He brought up information on Electrocutioner's Shock Gauntlets, which were similar. Not surprisingly the gauntlets had been given to the GCPD after the Christmas assassin incident in Gotham years prior. "They were held in Gotham PD's lock up," he mumbled to himself. He then checked on the GCPD's lockup and scowled deeply when he saw the results. Cy idly looked over his shoulder and arched a brow.

"Looks like those gauntlets went missing a while back only to turn up in a box on their door step a week later," Cyborg noted flatly. "Think it's a coincidence?" he questioned. Robin scoffed and laced his fingers together. The chance that the gauntlets went missing and this new X had similar gauntlets was slim to none in his personal opinion.

"While similar, they only vaguely resemble the Electrocutioner's Gauntlet's now. The gauntlets were clearly slimmed down with new age tech, so probably do roughly the same amount if a little less damage than the originals," he murmured aloud. Cyborg nodded his head in agreement with that assumption.

"Still more than enough to leave an impression," the titanium teen muttered to himself. He idly rubbed the side of his head where said gauntlets managed to effectively disable him for the rest of the fight. Robin grunted in response and brought up the fight with X once again. He watched the way that X fought closely and frowned.

Robin had been trained by the Batman to be an efficient fighter. He had also been trained to analyze the capabilities of his opponents. X's fighting style wasn't anything like his own, which was quick and acrobatic. It wasn't anything like Slade's, which was quick and brutally efficient in every possible way. It wasn't like Blackfire's, who had a very polished yet equally 'flashy' style.

In all actuality, Red-X seemed to fight more like Starfire, that being blunt and reckless in the extreme. Added to that he liked to mock and belittle his opponents mid battle, causing them to get so angry that any skill they had fell short. X's style wasn't even a style really, truth be told he seemed more like a brawler. It was like he was someone who had a vague understanding of how to fight, but too little formal training to give him a coherent style.

' _While that makes him absurdly hard to predict it also means he has to fight harder to compensate for the fact his blows don't do as much damage,'_ the boy wonder noted internally. He continued watching and idly tapped his fingers on the terminal in front of him. Whatever X had stolen was so miniscule that he couldn't get a clear look at it. He'd asked the warehouse workers to take inventory, but they had declined.

Further, the warehouse was owned by Lex-Corp, and thus far the suits there had been tightlipped on what the thief had taken. Aside from that, X clearly hadn't been too concerned about getting whatever he'd taken. Instead he'd just fought them, mocked them, and then decided to leave when he hadn't found them fun anymore.

' _He wanted to play with us,'_ Robin noted with a scowl, _'he was genuinely playing with us like we were nothing but kids to him!'_ he thought with a growl. Robin hated to admit it, but he had a lot of pride in his abilities. This was in part thanks to how long he'd been an active hero, or partner to one. He knew the trade better than most adults and knew some of the greatest heroes in the business on top of that.

Still, X was a potential problem and he need to figure out what to do about him.

"Do we have any information on thefts of similar equipment to what's being used in that suit?" Robin asked Cyborg. The titanium teen did a quick search on his arm terminal and then exhaled out of his nose.

"No, aside from those gauntlets anyways. But like I said earlier those turned up in a box outside their door a while later," Cyborg replied. Robin scoffed and crossed his arms. Theft from the GCPD lockup happened so often that it hardly mattered. Further, even if X had stolen them he'd also returned them. _'He wanted the gauntlets, but only to figure out how to build his own,'_ he internally reasoned.

"The flex armor?" Robin grunted.

"Rob I have no idea who makes that kind of shit, how would I start to look for it?" Cyborg demanded. Robin threw his hands into the air and leaned back with a scowl. "What about the power source?" Cyborg questioned. Robin looked to him with a raised brow. "Suit with that many gadgets has to be pretty demanding on power right," the titanium teen offered with a shrug. Robin grunted in response.

"The Electrocutioner's Gauntlets ran on kinetic energy, the more he moved the more energy was converted and stored for later. The Thermal Blaster has an internal power source that charges itself after each individual burst of fire," Robin stated in a monotone.

"The wrist blades probably function in a mechanical fashion without any need for electricity. As such it's those shuriken of his, the cloaking device, and the teleport that are the most energy demanding functions his suit has," Robin explained. "Unfortunately I have no idea how he makes his Shuriken, and he probably updated the Teleport and cloak to make them more efficient," he explained. He then frowned and rubbed his chin.

"Especially if he ditched my old power core," he added.

"Which was?" Raven questioned. Cyborg yelped and turned to see the girl standing behind him. He placed a hand to his chest and glared at the dark bird.

"Dammit Raven, you know I don't like it when you sneak up on me!" he stated. Raven arched a brow.

"I didn't, I walked up behind you," she stated bluntly. Cyborg muttered about semantics while the girl herself looked to Robin. "Now what did you use as a power core?" she questioned. Robin's brow twitched and he looked away.

"A Xenothium based power core," he admitted with a sigh. Cyborg rounded on the spiky haired teen.

"Xenothium?!" he demanded, "Man I know y'all aren't dumb enough to go messing 'round with that shit! It's dangerous, not to mention unstable! What the hell were you thinking when you used Xenothium to power that suit!?" the titanium teen demanded. Raven idly crossed her arms and tilted her head with a frown.

"Clearly he wasn't," she responded in a dull drone. Robin twitched as if hit violently by someone. He then glared at the two of them.

"I needed a way to power the suit, Xenothium was the best way I could find," he grumbled irritably. Raven rolled her eyes in response.

"Yet X probably found a better way," she noted aloud. Robin twitched once more. On the couch BB snickered and pulled a drawing board from the side. On it were pictures of a cybernetic monkey, a strange kid in short-pants, and a robot. However the green teen spun the board up to the blank side. On it were the names of each of the titans and the words 'Owned List' above them. Oddly, Raven's had the majority of marks.

BB added yet another couple to the list in her favor.

"Even IF he did, that's not the point right now," Robin stated through clenched teeth. Raven arched a brow.

"What is then?" she inquired dryly. Robin inhaled through his nose and then exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. Before he could speak, Cyborg frowned.

"Where did you even get a Xenothium Power Core," he questioned. Robin blinked and his shoulder's slumped.

"I had to go to Professor Chang," he admitted. That was probably the only part of the suit he hadn't designed and built himself. He'd had to outsource at least that much to make it believable that he wasn't… well… himself. Robin wouldn't normally go out and buy parts for weapons from criminals after all.

"You mean the illegal weapons expert slash dealer," Cyborg stated flatly. Robin nodded his head and Cy groaned. "Dude the more I hear about this the worse your idea seems," he declared with a sigh. Raven however frowned.

"So did you go to Chang yourself?" she questioned. Robin frowned then nodded his head. The not so good professor was unfortunately very paranoid. He was paranoid in the extreme to be perfectly honest. So much so that even Robin had to admit he was way too paranoid to be healthy.

"Chang doesn't work with you without seeing you personally, he's paranoid about traps," he admitted. Raven hummed and then looked at Robin with a ghost of a smirk.

"So does that mean Slade just got information out of Chang to know it was you in that suit?" she questioned. Robin made to deny, only to pause and consider it. He had gone to chang for the core, Chang was paranoid so he couldn't do it over a phone or computer, he had gone in person and sworn him to secrecy… but Chang was criminal. Not to mention he'd sold him a Xenothium Power Core, for money, which Slade definitely had in spades.

Meaning that Slade could just pay Chang for information and figure out who he was…

As the realization sunk in his left eye spasmed. He then raised his hand and palmed his face. He then started to palm / hit his forehead repeatedly. "My work here is done," Raven declared with a ghost of a smirk at the corners of her lips. She then turned and walked over to the couch and levitated a book into her hand. BB snickered and added yet another Tally-Mark in Raven's favor on the board.

Cyborg merely rolled his eyes and patted his leader on the back. "Man stop that," he ordered. Although he looked like he didn't mean it as he watched Robin repeatedly hit himself in the face. "We've still got work to do," Cy reminded his leader. The Titans' Leader grunted and ceased his self-punishment. He then rubbed at his forehead, rather the angry red mark there, with a frown.

"Excuse me, but I just figured out that I was sold out by the same ass hat who sold me that Xenothium Power Core in the first place," the boy wonder growled. Cy rolled his eyes and made to say something, only to pause and tap his chin.

"Wait, speaking of, just how much did you actually pay for that thing?" he questioned seriously. Robin completely ignored that question and looked at X's suit once more.

"X's suit, or at least the belt, isn't designed like mine was. Further we saw no glitches and… Cyborg bring up your scan again," the boy wonder ordered. The titanium teen frowned but did as told. He brought up the readout on X from the fight and Robin narrowed his eyes. "No… it doesn't even have any of the subtle readings of Xenothium radiation," he murmured quietly.

"Meaning he was smart and found an alternative," Raven stated from the couch. She then turned a page of her book while Robin started to grumble. BB snickered yet again and made yet another tally mark in favor of the dark girl. Cyborg smirked and then watched his friend glare at the screen heatedly.

"Man don't mind Rae, you know she's just messing with you," the titanium teen stated playfully. Raven frowned and looked up from her book.

"No, he really was an idiot," she commented bluntly. Cy chuckled nervously while it almost looked like steam was coming off of the boy wonder. BB had devolved into a laughing fit, yet still managed to add a tally mark in favor of the girl over Robin. A frown crossed Raven's lips and she glared at the laughing changeling. She then snapped her fingers and a tendril of black energy smacked him away.

He was sent flying back and out of the room and left them in quiet. The girl nodded her head and returned to her book as the black tendril picked up BB's chalk and put yet another mark in her favor, only this time it was over BB. If one looked close they might see a slim ghost of a smirk on the pale girl's lips. Turning from the scene and quickly clearing his throat, Cyborg looked at Robin seriously.

"You know you're taking this way too personally right?" he stated seriously. His friend shot a look at him.

"A thief stole the suit I built and modified it to suit his own ends," the titans' leader reminded his friend. He then leaned forward and laced his fingers together with narrowed eyes as he stared at the image of the thief. "So excuse me, but of course I'm taking this just a bit personally," he stated darkly. Cyborg rolled his eyes and glanced back. He paused when he noticed a shadow in the doorway out of the corner of his eye.

He blinked and turned fully to see them, but whoever it'd been was already gone. Raven idly narrowed her eyes. She'd sensed who it was and she had questions in mind for her. _'Like how she knew how to pull open the skull on that mask,'_ she thought to herself…

00

(Later…)

Starfire of Tamaran, princess of the royal house of Tamarus, and member of the Teen Titans quietly walked the dark halls of Titans Tower. Normally she would be asleep at this hour, but she had purpose this night. She entered into the Tower's Ops center and looked around. She didn't see anyone so breathed a sigh of relief and quietly approached the terminal. She powered it up and quickly searched for the video of their fight with X.

She was a bit confused on why it hadn't shown her opening X's mask. While Robin had certainly been out of it at that point, she was sure the camera would've caught her. At that point she'd certainly be interrogated by the boy wonder. Much as she liked him she wasn't an idiot, contrary to popular belief, while she was certainly naïve about Earth and its ways, that didn't make her stupid…

"You were out of its field of vision," Raven stated. Starfire almost yelped but quickly slapped her hands over her mouth. She then turned to see Raven sitting on the couch. If she hadn't already checked she'd almost swear the other girl had just been sitting there since earlier in the day.

"W-what?" Starfire questioned. Raven arched a brow and crossed her arms.

"When you opened X's mask, the camera was turned away from you, it didn't turn back until just after he'd fixed it," the dark bird replied. She then leaned forward with narrowed eyes. "So want to fill me in on how you knew how to do that?" she questioned with an arched brow. Starfire fidgeted in her seat and smiled awkwardly.

"Um, l-lucky guess," she offered. However Raven merely gave her a look that practically screamed 'that's really what you're going for?'. Starfire winced and rubbed at her biceps nervously. "I am sorry, but… it is something of a long story," she admitted. Raven nodded her head and then hummed lightly.

"Right, so maybe we should wait for the boys to wake up so you can explain it to them," she suggested. Starfire's eyes widened and she her arms and rapidly shook her head.

"No! Absolutely not! We cannot be allowing the boys to know of…" she began only to slap her hands over her mouth yet again. Raven arched a brow as if asking 'knowing of what exactly,' and Starfire sighed tiredly. "I must make confession," she began. She rubbed her arms and exhaled through her nose. "When I went twenty years into the future, I was not completely honest about my experience," she admitted quietly.

Raven blinked and frowned deeply. "By how much?" she questioned. Starfire shifted in her seat and grinned nervously.

"Um, only somewhat," she began. However Raven crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Err, well… perhaps it was mostly false," she offered. However Raven arched a brow in response. Starfire saw the look and sighed, a tired expression crossing her face. "Aside from the beginning, the majority of it was false," she finally admitted. Raven frowned and leaned back in her seat.

"Was it really so bad you had to lie?" she questioned. Starfire looked up at the younger girl with a pleading expression.

"I do not believe you would like what I would have to tell you," she admitted. Raven merely rolled her eyes.

"I highly doubt anything you can tell me would be that horrible," she assured the alien powerhouse. However Starfire looked away and let out a soft sigh.

"Your mind was fine for the most part," she admitted. Raven actually felt a little relieved by that. The idea of losing her mind was… "But you were still just… wrong," she whispered. Raven blinked and arched a brow.

"Wrong?" she questioned.

"You had darker clothes and behaved so… differently to my friend," she replied softly. Raven frowned deeply and narrowed her eyes. That sounded bad. She knew her mental state was tenuous at best sometimes due to her powers. But usually her physical changes were more dramatic with Rage. Which begged the question of what had happened to her. That in mind she looked at her orange skinned friend curiously.

"Starfire, did anyone call me something besides 'Raven'?" she questioned. She had an idea of what it would be, but she had to be sure. Her friend frowned in thought and then slowly nodded her head.

"I believe you were referred to as 'Pride' by the X of the future," Starfire admitted. Raven felt her heart stop and her eyes widen.

"You're certain of that?" she questioned. Starfire slowly nodded her head and a frown crossed the dark birds lips. She knew exactly what that meant for her. It meant nothing good for anyone to refer to her as Pride. Not for her or for the world for that matter. If she was willingly allowing herself to be called 'Pride' then…

"Are you still so certain you wish to know what I saw?" Starfire questioned. Raven was silent as she considered. On one hand, she didn't want to know. She honestly felt it would be better if she didn't know. But on the other hand, then she would always wonder what had happened to her. While she certainly didn't plan on such a future, the fact she was still alive at all seemed… odd. Even with that name…

So with that in mind she exhaled through her nose and nodded.

Starfire nodded her head as well and twiddled her thumbs for a moment. "To begin, I was not in that future for a few hours," she admitted. Raven raised a brow. "I believe I was there for a few days," she admitted. "Perhaps even a week," she added as she rubbed at her temples. "But maybe I should start with the day which I went to the future," she began. Raven silently listened…

Meanwhile a dark figure sat outside the window, microphone laced fingers to the glass…

00

TBC…

00

AN: I'm baaaaaaack… He he he he ha ha ha ha ha! Anyways, 'X' is an actual Dark Horse Comic book series, not just something I made up for the story, look it up and you'll see why I think they based Red-X's look off of this guy.

Addition: How does this story look when compared to the original? I'm hoping that it's a lot easier to follow and the overall action is better as well. I've improved my writing a great deal since I first started and I'm hoping this is up to snuff. Anyways, till next time readers… Allons-y!


	2. Future Tense PT1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 1**_ : _**Future Tense Pt. 1**_ …

00

(Jump City, Titans Tower…)

Titans Tower is perched on 'Titan's Island' in Jump City bay. It has become something of a tourist attraction since its construction nearly a year prior. It is also home to the young team of heroes known as The Teen Titans. This ragtag group of kids came together one day and had been together ever since. But this is not where our story begins.

An alarm goes off within the tower. Not the usual crime alert but a simple time clock. It rings loudly and rouses a young girl from her slumber. She smiles and sits up. She stretches her arms out and then grins. "The day has arrived!" she cheered happily. She cut off her time clock and then leaped to a nearby drawer. Within are a plethora of toys and party favors. She scoops them all up with a girlish giggle.

She then peeks out into the hall outside of her room. Cautiously she looks back and forth and then zips out with a bubbly little laugh. Her armload jingles as she zips from wall to wall. A single item falls from the load as she disappears around the nearby bend. However she reaches back to pick it back up. She makes her way to a set of stairs and happily floats over them. She comes to a halt before a sealed pair of doors and smiles.

"HAPPY BLORTHOG!" she declares loudly as the doors open. She then halts and looks around strangely. "Huh?" she questions unsurely. Her friends certainly don't seem to be as enthused for the day as she is. Raven sits on the couch with a book, a pair of nail-clippers hovering nearby. Robin has an obnoxiously loud boom-box in the kitchen. Beast Boy and Cyborg appear to be fighting over the Gamestation… again…

Despite this, Robin's music has drowned out most of the yelling and Starfire can only hear the barest hints of what they are arguing over. Further, Robin's music is so loud she could almost swear it was blowing his spiky hair back. Although she does question why her friends would have a tug of war with the game controller. From what she knew of the devices they were just a bit fragile and that might be too much stress on its cords…

"Come on, Beast Boy, gimme that thing!" Cyborg demanded. The fact she could hear him over Robin's boom-box was impressive. She reasoned he was probably being extra loud for that very reason.

"Dude! I'm in the middle of a game, Cyborg!" Beast Boy retorted.

"Yeah, my game, 'cause it's my turn!" the titanium teen snarled at his friend. Starfire idly glanced over at Raven to see what she thought of this argument. Strangely enough the younger girl simply continued to read, a blank expression on her face.

"Give me the controller!" BB demanded.

"No! Let go!" Cyborg retorted. Starfire choose that moment to walk into the room and beamed at her friends brightly.

"It's my turn!" BB declared once more.

"Friends! We must frolic and leap in glorious celebration, for today is Blorthog—the Tamaranean festival of friendship!" she declared happily. She grinned brightly for a moment, only to stop and look around when she noticed no one had paid her any mind. She felt mildly disgruntled by this, but shook it off as she deposited her load of toys and party favors to the ground. All save for several strings of jingling bells from her wrists.

She approached Cyborg with one first, even though he is still struggling against Beast Boy, another bright smile on her face.

"Joyous greeting, friend!" she declared brightly. Cyborg didn't seem to notice as he's a bit too preoccupied by a tentacle from Beast Boy. "I, Starfire, give you this tinnabula as a symbol of…" she's cut off as the tentacle is wrapped around Cyborg's neck and he's pulled and then tossed away.

"You're gonna pay for that, you little grass stain!" Cyborg declared furiously. BB merely smiled and laughed to himself as he turned into a frog with the controller in his mouth. He leaped up and landed on the back of the couch and then changed back to normal with a laugh as he continued to play the game they were fighting over.

Undeterred by what had just occurred Starfire smiles at Beast Boy and holds out one of her string of bells to him. "Many blessings, friend. May your ears be filled with sugar candies and…" she begins. However she halts once more as Cyborg interrupts her with a great shout of.

"BEAST BOY!" Said green teen frowned and glared at where the downed Cyborg was picking himself back up.

"Look! I'll give you back the controller as soon as Raven gives back my nail clippers!" the green teen stated with a glare at the girl in question. However his glare is halted when Cyborg grabs and yanks him back for another go. As for Raven herself she doesn't even bat a lash, merely turns one of the pages of her book. The clippers still float nearby where she can safeguard them.

"Not gonna happen. How else am I supposed to keep your toenails off the coffee table?" the girl responded. Starfire zipped over to her and cheerfully offered her one of the stings of bells.

"Happiness and delight, friend. On this wondrous day I wish you sunshine and bunny…" the girl declares brightly. However she cut herself off when she saw the look her friend gave her. Despite having become somewhat closer to her than when they started off as a team, she knew Raven was still just a bit… temperamental. So she takes the hint and backs off with a nervous titter.

With Starfire dealt with, Raven looked at Robin with a twitch of her brow.

"Robin, could the music be a little louder? I can still hear myself think," she grumbled irritably. Starfire had decided to attempt to give him a tinnabula as well. However, before she can do so it becomes plainly clear he's had more than enough of the fighting and glares at their shared friends.

"I only turned the music up to DROWN OUT ALL THE YELLING!" he exclaimed. The force behind his yell was surprisingly strong as it actually managed to blow her hair back. _'Does Robin have a super scream power?'_ Starfire pondered to herself. It would certainly explain a couple of things and she knew that the 'Black Canary' had a similar power and they were both named for birds…

… she would need to think on this more later.

Starfire yelped and ducked to the side as Raven and Robin proceed to glare at Cy and BB while they continued to fight over the Gamestation controller. Cyborg chased BB around until he finally managed to grab the smallest titan in a headlock. He tauntingly held the Gamestation controller in the air as he looked down at his friend victoriously.

"Whose turn is it now, tough guy? Whose turn is it now?" he taunted. Robin twitched and then slammed a hand onto the table.

"Knock it off! I can't work with you two acting like idiots!" the leader of the Titans roared at his friends. Starfire blinked and wondered what work he was doing. He seemed to simply be sitting and listening to the music… was he trying to deafen himself? If so she knew of many better ways to do it. Raven scoffed and then looked at Robin with a flat expression.

"Great, Robin. More yelling will definitely stop all the yelling," she commented sarcastically. This of course led to Robin and Raven engaging into a fierce glaring contest. It was a Glaring Contest because they were certainly too angry for it to be a simple staring contest. Unfortunately, Cy and BB were back up to fighting as their leader and dark friend glared.

BB turned into a bear and proceeded to chase Cyborg around to get the controller. The Titanium Teen ran, mostly due to instinct really, as the green bear chased after him. They ran around the couch a time or two; Starfire tried to stop them however they ignored her entirely. BB ultimately changed back to catch his breath as Cyborg laughed at him uproariously.

"Friends, please!" she tried to say however they still wouldn't listen. "You must not… if we could simply… happy Blor…" she continued. However BB had lunged into a jump at Cyborg.

"Whoa!" the titanium teen exclaimed and ducked out of the way. Thus BB grabbed one of her Tinnabula and pulled it down too hard. The simple strand holding it together broke and the bells fell off around her. Starfire looked down to see them bounce all around for a moment and then tightened her hands into fists. She tried to keep calm, she reminded herself that today was supposed to be a happy day, but…

Robin and Raven continued to glare at one another…

BB was on the ground while Cyborg gloated over him…

Her fists clenched, eyes screwed shut, and she finally lost it.

" _STTTOOOPPP!_ " she exclaimed loudly. Raven looked at her in surprise, unused to her blowing up at all really. Robin actually backed up into the stop button on his boom-box by accident. Cy and BB merely halted and looked at the Tamaranean Teen as she took a calming breath.

"Friends must never behave this way—and especially not on Blorthog! Do you wish to invite the Rekmas?" she demanded. However her friends clearly did not understand the severity of her words.

"Gesundheit?" BB offered in confusion. Cy shot him a look while Starfire sighed and turned from the jade jester.

"On my world, "Rekmas" means 'the Drifting,'" she began. "The point at which close friends begin to drift apart… and their friendship begins to die," she explained. However again, her friends didn't really see things they way she did.

"Aw, come on, Starfire," Cyborg stated.

"We are _so_ not Rek-whatever-ing," BB insisted.

"We're getting on each other's nerves a little. Big deal," Raven offered with a shrug. The leader of the Titans nodded his head in agreement with the dark bird.

"Yeah. This is just typical roommate stuff. We're not going to drift apart, Star. I promise. We'll all be friends forever," he told the girl kindly. However the young alien looked at him worriedly.

"Forever?" she questioned. A familiar jingle cuts off her worry as Robin looks to his communicator. He frowns for a moment before he turns to the rest of the team.

"Titans! Trouble!" the boy wonder declared. All but Starfire quickly rush out of the ops center. The alien teen looks at remains of the things she'd brought to celebrate Blorthog with her friends sadly. She sighed softly and quickly flew after her friends…

00

(Present Day…)

"Starfire I know what happened at home, I was there," Raven deadpanned. Starfire nodded her head and smiled. The two sat cross-legged in the Ops Center on the floor. A soft glow from the terminal Starfire had tried to use was the only illumination afforded to them. Mostly so they could continue to speak quietly.

"I was attempting to 'set the mood'," she admitted. Raven rolled her eyes in response and shot the girl a flat look. To be honest she didn't need nor want the recap on what they had done that day.

"Just get on with it already," she grumbled. The tamaranean powerhouse pouted but nodded her head. She took a breath and tapped her chin. She tried to think of where she could continue from and inhaled…

00

Her head spun, as images became disjointed, errant memories swirled about in her head.

"The Teen Titans. This _is_ a treat. I read all about you in the historical archives. And now you're all history!" the voice was from an enemy. They had fought him somewhere… they?

"Titans! GO!" ah yes, they were a team. The Teen Titans… Robin, he was the leader. Then there was the color green for only a moment. It reminded her of Beast Boy, her shape-shifting friend, and then she continued to slip into darkness.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" another voice sounded in the depths of her memories. This one belonged to Raven, yes, a good friend she'd shared much with.

"Draining my power cell!" yet another voice. That one belonged to Cyborg, another friend with great strength.

"You cannot defeat Warp. I am from the future. And you relics are one hundred years out of date," their enemy yet again. Something about him had made her angry… but what?

"Starfire!" her name, called out by their leader… why? What had happened… wait… she'd chased him. Lunged at Warp… right? There was a vortex, a portal but… Her head still hurt so much but she desperately tried to grasp what had happened.

"You have endangered my friends and ruined Blorthog!" her voice? Yes, that was definitely her voice. She remembered grappling with Warp, attacking him as he tried to escape to the future.

"Stop! If you damage the suit before we reach my future…" he didn't get to finish. Something had happened; she guessed she damaged his suit. But her head still hurt and she swam in a sea of darkness. She could breathe so that was good. But she felt so heavy as she fell…

00

She fell through a cold chilling wind. _'Winter?'_ she questioned as she saw snow. But winter was months away. Why would it be…? Her thought was cut off when she crashed hard into a snowdrift. She blinked, hard for a human, but she was Tamaranean. She could take far more of a beating. She slowly stood up and brushed herself of the snow. Despite her clothes, she was fine with the cold, the cold vacuum of space was far worse than this.

"Huh? What has happened… why is it cold? And where are my…" she paused and then gasped. Across from her was a snow covered building. Titans Tower, but the windows were dark, the main window shattered, and she could even see more obvious traces of disrepair. She silently looked at the state of what had become her home…

"… Friends," she finished quietly. She then shook her head and flew across the icy bay. She didn't look back, instead focusing forward on the tower. She arrived at Titan Island and looked around. She could see greater signs of disrepair and it left her worried. Were her friends all right? Had something happened to them? She wasn't sure, but she was going to find out!

She flew once more, concentrated on the joy of flight. It was difficult though, seeing what had become of her home was far from pleasant. But she could endure so long as her friends were all undamaged. She just needed to see them and everything would be okay. But as she entered the tower and looked around, she felt things were far worse than she had assumed.

The room she entered was very dark and cold. Filled with scattered bits of machinery and wires hanging from the walls. It gave it a sense of rot and decay to Starfire. Like the place was dead and now slowly falling apart. The thought sent a shiver up her spine and she rubbed her arms to try and warm herself.

She then noticed the device she had torn from Warp's armor. She'd been so concerned with finding her friends she'd actually forgotten about it. She clipped it onto her belt at her hip and then looked to a darkened staircase. _'I have to find my friends,'_ she decided and mounted the stairs.

"Hello? Friends?" she questioned. She was scared if they would answer or not. The obvious disrepairs made her doubtful. But she could at least hold onto hope. "Hello? Friends!" she cried. The deathly silence worried her greatly. She could hardly imagine Beast Boy or Cyborg being so quiet. Raven or Robin, yes, but they were like that.

She found a pair of closed doors blocking her path. However she wouldn't allow those to impede her. She reached out and with a bit of a strain managed to pry them open. When she did she walked into the OPS room. The place was run down worse than she'd ever imagined. She wandered through the kitchen, a glance here or there…

She honestly couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Snow had drifted into the tower OPS Room, or living room, or whatever it was called. She had never really checked to be honest. It was the room she often entered in the morning to cook and that was all she really cared. Not that she didn't care, just that rooms hardly matter. It was the people in the rooms that were supposed to matter.

' _It all looks so old, so decrepit,'_ she noted to herself. She nearly stepped on an old Gamestation controller, and so took a step to the side. However her boot nudged something and she gasped and backed up at a sharp ring. She glanced down to see a very old rusted bell.

' _But, I only dropped these this morning,'_ she realized as she knelt down and picked it up. _'How could it look like this so soon?'_ she wondered to herself. She then gasped as the bell suddenly turned to dust in her palm. _'How… how have things become so bad, it has not been so long since I was here last,'_ she rationalized.

There was a strange almost mechanical sound nearby. One she knew from only one being. She then noticed a red light and breathed a sigh of relief. "Cyborg," she stated, however the red light didn't budge from its spot. She formed a Starbolt into her hand and then raised it to hopefully illuminate her friend.

"Oh, Cyborg thank goodness you are…" however she stops and gasps at what she sees. Instead of her cybernetic friend she finds a strange mechanical approximation. The light had come from something that seemed to be an electronic brain with a glowing red eye. She let out a cry and quickly hurled a starbolt at the amalgam of circuitry.

She blasted away some of the parts yet the 'brain' climbed forward. It had long spindly legs like an eerie mechanical spider. It crawled towards her quickly and she backed away hurriedly and hurled another Starbolt at the approaching swarm. Soon, the swarm began to converge and she hopped into the air. The robots attempted to lunge at her and she threw more starbolts to deal with them.

"Stop," a calm voice suddenly ordered. Starfire blinked as the lights on the machines turned blue. They then backed off and began to scurry away. The Tamaranean looked around and soon saw a shadowed figure in the doorway. "I apologize, the drones are not used to visitors,' he stated.

His voice was utterly and completely neutral. Calm and quiet, it also sounded familiar.

"Wait… you are, the Fixit, yes?" she questioned. Slowly a familiar figure walked from the shadows. It was indeed the mostly mechanical being Cyborg once met. However he seemed different as well. More advanced perhaps, yet his cold blue eyes remained.

"Hello, you are Starfire of the Titans, correct?" Fixit questioned. Starfire slowly nodded her head. Idly she wondered what other 'Starfire' he had met that required such specifics. "I am surprised, you disappeared quite some time ago," he noted casually as he walked over to collect pieces of his fallen machines.

"Disappeared?" Starfire questioned. "But… I did not go anywhere," she muttered.

"Indeed, it has been sum twenty odd years yet you have not aged a day. Judging by your appearance you did not go anywhere, rather, I would have to assume you were propelled through time instead," the mechanical man replied calmly. He had collected a batch of parts and was now carrying them out of the room. Starfire cautiously followed behind the mechanical man as he went on his way.

"But how?" she questioned. Fixit spared a glance at her waist and his eyes seemed to click and whir for a moment. He then hummed and turned back to walking.

"The technology utilized by Warp, I believe it was meant for time travel. I would hazard a guess that during the battle with him you damaged his suit, thus caused a wormhole that jettisoned you into the future," he noted calmly. Starfire blinked and looked around once more. That would certainly explain the advanced age of everything…

"The future," she murmured quietly and then flew ahead of Fixit. The mechanical man didn't stop his trek even as she did. "But please, if that is true then where are my friends?" she questioned. Fixit stopped for only a moment and then continued his march forward.

"Robin eventually left the titans some time after you disappeared," Fixit admitted. "He stationed himself as a hero in Bludhaven by the name 'Nightwing'. He occasionally started up new Titan groups or 'Outsiders' to deal with larger threats without the Justice League needing to be involved. Currently, I believe he has taken the mantle of Batman," the mechanical man explained. Starfire looked surprised, however he was not finished.

"Beast Boy remained longer than Robin, but he ultimately left as well. He wandered for some time, briefly took up the role of an actor. He later returned to the Doom Patrol and died alongside the rest of them. I believe it occurred during an altercation with a being referred to as 'The Brain'," the mechanical man continued. Starfire merely looked at him with wide eyes and her hands raised to her mouth.

"Raven left next. I believe the negative emotions brought on by the situation had an equally negative effect on her. She briefly worked on her own but ultimately vanished. I attempted to locate her, however it appears she too died. All I could gather was that she wished to prevent the 'end of the world'," he continued to explain to the tameranian. He was silent after that, before Starfire took a breath and looked at him worriedly.

"W-What of Cyborg?" Starfire questioned softly. Fixit was silent for a moment and then looked at her. She could almost swear she saw a look of pity in his eyes.

"Allow me to show you," he replied. Starfire blinked then turned as a doorway opened. She then gasped in horror and backed up a pace. There in the remains of the tower's infirmary was what was left of Cyborg. What was there was mostly machine, the only organics she could see being bits of his brain visible through glass. She then turned to Fixit who approached him and began to open and close random sections of his armor.

"What did you do to him?" she demanded. The mechanical man arched a brow as he regarded the Tamaranean and then looked to Cyborg. He then turned back to the girl with a slim frown across his lips.

"You assume I did this?" Fixit questioned. Starfire blinked, but nodded her head. The mechanical man was silent for a moment and then nodded his head. "Understandable, I did attempt something relatively similar. If our roles were reversed that would be the most logical conclusion," he admitted. That merely annoyed Starfire as she slammed a hand into the wall next to her, eyes glowing bright and furious.

"What happened to my friend!?" she grit out furiously. Fixit merely continued what appeared to be maintenance for a moment then sighed.

"Though the rest of the Titans left Jump City, Cyborg remained," he began. He then stopped and placed a hand onto the titanium teen's head. "In his attempts to defend the city he was injured innumerous times. He was a lone hero and the villains continuously used this to their advantage," he explained. He then sighed as he walked to the side and began to pick up pieces of metal and circuitry.

"Eventually the strain became too much, he began to perform rudimentary upgrades to increase his efficiency. He hoped that if he could do things faster then he could defeat the villains faster. He continued this line of thinking for quite some time… however it put an unneeded strain on his remaining organic tissue," the mechanical man admitted. He then started to replace random circuit boards and wires.

"As his organic tissue began to deteriorate he attempted to self-upgrade to reinforce himself. However his attempts were suboptimal and ultimately resulted in his body suffering for it. Cyborg ultimately called upon me for aide. I attempted to dissuade his continued attempts, but he was… stubborn," the mechanical man explained. He finished with his repairs and looked to Starfire.

"Sadly, the march of time left him behind. Newer more advanced technology became incompatible with Cyborg's systems. He fell into disrepair and ultimately I was forced to hook him into what amounted to life support. To conserve power and prolong his life I was even forced to shut down all but his necessary systems," Fixit explained. He then watched as Starfire pensively looked down at her boots as she scuffed the floor.

"I-I see," she whispered softly. "I am… I am sorry that I attempted to blame you," she replied demurely. "You did not deserve it, I am merely frustrated," she admitted. Fixit arched a brow and then returned to work on the metal teen.

"Apologies are unneeded, I said it was a logical conclusion and I meant it," he replied. Starifre shifted for a moment and then looked down at her fallen friend.

"Can he hear us?" she questioned. Fixit glanced at Cyborg and then nodded.

"He can, however he is unable to speak for himself," he admitted. Starfire balled up her fists and let out a breath through her nose.

"No! This is wrong! This is all wrong!" she stated and hopped into the air, her hands on her head. "This badness should not have happened! My friends should still be friends!" she stated. Fixit merely tilted his head to one side and then looked to Cyborg.

"If things had been different, my friend might not have gone down this path," he admitted. His eyes flashed for a moment as he made a link to Cyborg's systems and heard him speak to him. "Starfire, if you wish I may be able to assist you," Fixit admitted as his eyes returned to their normal level. Starfire blinked and turned to the mechanical man with an unsure expression. She knew very little about him after all.

"I would appreciate any you are willing to give," she replied.

"My assistance would be minor," Fixit admitted. He walked over to a table and began to make something from the spare parts there. "I am not a fighter, and I am needed here to ensure Cyborg remains comfortable," the mechanical man admitted. Starfire looked aside with a nod of her head. She then blinked and reached to the device on her belt. She unclipped it and held it out to Fixit.

"Perhaps you could repair this," she suggested. Fixit frowned and took the device, then turned it around in his hands. His eyes gave a fierce glow and then he frowned deeply.

"I am afraid the technology of this device is well beyond my understanding. Warp was from one hundred years in the future in your time, somewhere close to eighty years for me. It stands to reason that only one being can truly repair this device," he stated. He then handed the device back to Starfire and she frowned in thought. Then her eyes began to glow as she became angry.

"Warp," she stated darkly. Fixit arched a brow and then hummed.

"Indeed, that would be a reasonable assumption," he replied. "Though locating him may be a bit of a problem," the mechanical man admitted. "When last seen, Warp was still in Jump City, however that was quite some time ago," he finished. Starfire nodded and then looked to Cyborg for a moment and let out a breath.

"I… do you know where I might find Robin?" she questioned. Fixit frowned deeply in response and turned from the girl.

"Unfortunately the former leader of your team would not be able to assist you. Last I heard 'Robin' became the new 'Batman' as I said before and as such he is likely stationed in Gotham City. Although I admit there may be errors to this as I rarely speak to anyone. Aside from that he is quite… different now," the mechanical man replied. Starfire winced and rubbed her arms; she really didn't want to do this alone.

"I… so I must search for the Warp alone?" she questioned softly. Fixit was silent for only a moment and then his eyes began to glow again. He linked with Cyborg to debate his options with the titanium titan. Ultimately there was but one who would be of assistance to Starfire in the field. Though it would be a shock for her he was certain.

Cyborg found it strangely amusing.

"There is someone I can call to assist you," he stated. Starfire blinked and smiled, hopeful for assistance in this endeavor…

00

Jump City had been run into a hole. He knew that, he tried to deal, but it hurt. Jump City was his home. Not like Konoha had been. No. Jump City was a real home. He had people in this city that he cared about. Even if most of them had skipped town, a few remained.

Gizmo, his tiny genius friend was still in town. He ran a legitimate business nowadays. He even let him hang around and act as security when he needed it. He called it Tartarus Technologies, and it was growing more and more every day. Soon Giz would be set. Then he wouldn't need him to constantly protect his shipments of tech around the city.

Tartarus, the once notorious mercenary group anyways, had been out of business for a while, but their leader was still on the prowl. Most would give up, most would stop, but he was stubborn as a mule. He stopped his thoughts when he noticed a call coming in. He arched a brow and reached up to tap the side of his helmet. "Talk to me," he stated in a synthesized voice.

(Greetings, I require your assistance with an urgent matter,) the mechanical voice of 'Fixit' stated over the line. He blinked and looked around, then climbed the side of a building and looked in the direction of Titans Tower.

"Yeah, so what do I get out of it?" the blond questioned bluntly.

(You have been interested in some of my tech, correct?) Fixit questioned. Technically it was Gizmo who wanted his tech. In fact he'd been trying to track Fixit down and recruit him for years. Unfortunately the mechanical man was too preoccupied with 'Stone Head' to be of any use to them. It was an unfortunate circumstance, but he could respect his dedication to his friend.

"I think Giz has a list of things he wants from you," he replied casually. He also narrowed his eyes and looked out over the snow-covered city. His suit kept him perfectly comfortable despite the cold. It was designed as a 'pressurized environment suit' from what Gizmo had explained to him, thus could easily deal with most climates or terrain.

(I would be willing to send Gizmo the designs for some of my devices in exchange for this favor,) the mechanical man admitted. The thief arched a brow and rubbed his chin in thought. That could be a real boon to Giz and his business. Fixit's tech was impressive considering what he usually had to work with.

"Let me make a quick call and I'll get back to you," the blond replied. Fixit went silent so he assumed he agreed. He idly flicked through his contacts and found Gizmo's, thus sent a signal to the tiny terror. Soon enough he heard back from him and grimaced as he came yelling at him.

(What do you want shit for brains!?) Gizmo demanded. Despite being twenty years older, Gizmo was only a little bit bigger. Nor was his voice that different. It was sad in X's opinion that his friend remained small. It also gave his friend a bit of a napoleon complex if he were honest…

"Fixit wants to make a deal, I help him, we get some of his tech," he replied crisply. Gizmo preferred to be direct and not beat around the bush. It also made working with him a lot easier.

(Okay, you've got my attention, any other details?) Gizmo questioned.

"No, I think he's being tight lipped, so we could maybe weasel some nice tech out of him," the blond replied. He also checked his suit to ensure it was running at peak performance. Luckily Giz had preformed his usual maintenance on it recently so it was good to go. _'That's good, won't have to stop off at the base,'_ he noted to himself.

(Oi, you know I hate it when guys are vague,) Gizmo grumbled. X idly nodded his head in understanding. To be honest he hated that too, but it was they best they could get from the mechanical man.

"Yeah, but it's Fixit we're talking about," he replied. Gizmo growled low in his throat before he replied.

(Goddamn it… you know that fucking annoys the shit out of me!)

"What, me being right?" X quipped.

(Piss off!) he growled in retort. Gizmo had also gotten better at swearing.

"Yeah yeah, so do you think I should take the gig or what?" the thief questioned.

(Urgh! For Fixit's tech, yeah… sure. I don't have anything that needs a protection detail tonight so it should be fine. But keep in contact, there's no telling what can happen later,) Gizmo replied with a grunt. X also heard the sound of a lighter and frowned.

"Those death sticks 'll kill you," the blond stated. He knew Asuma used to smoke, but Giz had started a bit too young in his opinion… then again he wasn't really sure how old Gizmo was back then. So maybe he hadn't.

(Fuck off; if I die then I'll die doing what I like! Sides, it's not like I smoke when you're around,) the tiny terror reminded. X rolled his eyes in response.

"Right," he replied then switched back over to Fixit's line. "Well bolt brain, looks like Giz is real interested in what you've got for 'im," the blond stated.

(Excellent, my request is that you assist a… friend, in locating the man known as Warp,) Fixit explained. X blinked and then frowned deeply. Warp wasn't high profile, so it wasn't dangerous to go after him, but why would Fixit be interested in him at all? No one had seen that loon for years. Well he had a few contacts who could maybe point him in the right direction but…

"Right, so where do I meet this friend?" the masked theif questioned.

(She will await you at 'Piano Pizza' I trust you know the location,) Fixit replied. X did know where that was. It was a known hangout for the first group of Titans back in the day. Back when they were actually around that is. Robin had been fun to mess with back then, well, till he decided to leave at least. He hated quitters and just up and leaving like that was quitting in his book.

"Yeah, so about those plans," he began. However Fixit decided to interrupt him.

(I have already sent an E-Mail to Gizmo. Before you ask I can assure you that you will most assuredly recognize my friend quite easily. She stands out quite a bit from the norm, even in a crowd,) Fixit replied crisply. With that the line went dead and X switched back to Gizmo.

"Giz, check your mail," he stated. He heard a few taps and then grimaced.

(Sweet mother of balls! Ha ha ha ha! We hit pay dirt!) he exclaimed. X wished he could rub his ear. Instead he shut off the link and sighed. He also looked around to get his bearings and reached for his belt. He tapped an X shaped symbol on the buckle and vanished in a static flash…

Time to go to work…

00

Starfire did not like the future. The city was cold and unfriendly now. She missed the days of warmth and joviality. Even Piano Pizza, where she and her friends oft went to eat, seemed unfriendly to her now. It did not stop her from ordering a bit to eat; she was a bit hungry after all. But she did notice how the service had declined. It made her long for the past, back when things were simple and her friends were near.

' _I must locate the Warp,'_ she thought to herself with determination. _'When I do, he will fix his machine and I will be able to go home,'_ she thought with a nod. She then sighed as she recalled why she was waiting here. _'Of course I must first meet my 'assistance' and then find the Warp,'_ she admitted to herself.

She then noticed a presence behind her and tensed.

"Well, Fixit certainly wasn't exaggerating," she heard a strange synthetic voice muse. "You definitely stand out in a crowd, cutie," he quipped. She blinked; something about the voice was oddly familiar. It was almost as if she'd heard it before, in another life perhaps. She turned around to find the speaker and audibly gasped.

Standing behind, well now in front of her, was a man in an eerily familiar suit. Though it was actually the simple jawless skull shaped mask that she recognized, though the thick crimson X that went through both eyes and then crossed his forehead was different. The beaten and battered old black trench coat he wore wasn't familiar, nor was the padded / armored suit he wore under it though it at least resembled the one she was familiar with…

00

(Present)

"Did X's suit really change so little from now to then?" Raven questioned in surprise. That seemed to indicate that X's suit was beyond advanced, probably being somewhere on the literal bleeding edge of technology. Though she had a hard time imagining that to be honest. He was a thief after all, or at least he seemed to be some kind of thief thus far, although was obviously a mercenary in the future.

"No, it had a few minor differences," Starfire admitted, "his forearms had 'bracelets' of the white armor rather than the bracers he wears now, there were odd glowing circuits in the red bits of his costume," she tried to explain then paused. She frowned as she tried to think of the other minuet differences between the future and present version of X. "I also believe that the material of the suit itself was different," she finished. Raven hummed.

"But it was still similar enough for you to literally recognize him on sight alone," she remarked. Starfire blushed and nodded her head slowly. That was true, she could actually imagine she could pick X out of a crowd and not just because that suit was so distinct. While she hadn't really seen under his mask she had certainly gotten a decent idea of what his body structure was like.

"I also can't help but notice he called you 'Cutie'," Raven noted, "which he did when he met you the other day," she pressed. Starfire just nodded her head with a bemused smile.

"I am of the opinion that the Red-X refers to people by whatever first pops into his head when he first sees them," she admitted. Raven blinked and looked at Starfire strangely. "What?" the bubbly alien questioned and her dark friend hummed.

"Just…" she began then paused, "no, its nothing," she finished.

"I see," Starfire said unsurely. She then glanced at the time and mentally sighed, "but please, allow me to continue," the older girl pleaded. Raven mutely nodded with a sigh and allowed her friend to continue with her tale…

00

(20 years in the future…)

"R-Red-X!?" Starfire whispered. She recalled Red-X, it was a persona used by Robin. It was also a name that carried bad memories for her. She watched silently as 'Red-X' walked over and sat down. He placed his feet on the table and looked to her with a smirk beneath his mask. "But… Robin was the Red-X," Starfire whispered. She was still trying to comprehend this Red-X's unusual appearance.

It looked to her like the original had been vastly upgraded.

"Yeah he was," 'Red-X' assured with a nod of his head. He then looked at the red head with a grin, "and I'm the new guy," he stated. "And personally," he began while leaning close to the orange skinned girl, "I think the suit looks a whole lot cooler on me," he declared. Starfire tilted her head and then frowned.

The thief just chuckled and briefly appreciated the view of the young red head. She was a lot better looking than he'd imagined. He knew that this was without a doubt Starfire; he'd worked with Blackfire a lot over the years after all. And really, if this girl dyed her hair black and got some contacts she'd be the spitting image of her older sister. _'That's kind of creepy actually,'_ he admitted to himself.

"But… how?" she tried to question.

"Robin didn't destroy the suit," he paused then added, "The original one I mean." He then watched Starfire take on an angry pout and huff indignantly. He could admit to himself that it was almost unbearably cute. He only wished he could have seen an adorable look like that on Blackfire's face, instead of her scowls, sneers, smirks and so on. Mostly cause at least she was his age.

"Why wouldn't he," she questioned, "it was that suit which nearly broke our team apart," she muttered to herself. X was sure there was a story about that, but he was a bit more interested in finishing this job. The red head was cute, sure, but she was also jailbait. Unless she aged really gracefully, doubtful but not impossible, then she'd skipped through time.

Which would explain what happened to her twenty years ago. He hadn't known her back then. Of the original Jump City Titans, he was more personally acquainted with Raven. Though to be honest Raven had been quite a bit more than just a friend to him at the time. He shook such thoughts away and focused on the redhead instead.

"The suit used to use 'Xenothium' as a power source," he replied to Starfire's question. Mostly so that he didn't start to think about the past. He really didn't want to go into introspective mode right now. He watched as Starfire went wide-eyed at that information and grimaced. How was it she knew what the rocks were? He hadn't even known what was with them when he went looking for them!

"Xenothium! What was he thinking! Xenothium is one of the most dangerous elements on this or any other planet!" the tameranian cutie declared. The fire in her eyes reminded Naruto of someone else, but he couldn't quite recall whom. He almost found it funny that he wasn't even forty yet and already he was having problems with his memory.

"Meh, don't know, far as I care the kid was just being an idiot," he responded with a lazy shrug. Starfire shot him a look in response and he leaned back uncomfortably. He really wished he knew who she was reminding him of. It kind of bugged him to be honest. "Anyways, I use a different power source… for personal reasons," he assured her. Starfire merely let out a breath and sat down.

"I see, then at least you have some sense," she decided. The masked man snickered to himself. "Then you are here to assist me in locating the Warp?" she questioned. She would have to have a conversation with Robin when she returned. Xenothium Power Cores were insanely dangerous. Instability aside they had other qualities that needed to be taken into consideration. Until such things were resolved she would worry…

"Yeah, Fixit hired me to help," he replied. Starfire blinked and arched a brow in question. Naruto could already tell why she was confused. "I'm kind of a mercenary," he admitted. Starfire frowned in thought for a moment and then snapped her fingers.

"Like the Lobo?" she questioned. Naruto recoiled with a look at her.

"Hell no!" he exclaimed. He had met the space bounty hunter, and it had not been fun. "Lobo is a fucking Bounty Hunter cutie, he and I have completely different job sets. Most bounty hunters are all about 'killing people' or catching people and then getting paid. I get paid to do all kinds of different jobs, like steal stuff, protect stuff, protect people, catch people, train people and such," he replied. He then calmed himself down.

As he calmed down the tamaranean powerhouse looked at him pensively. "May I ask how it is we will locate the Warp then?" she questioned. The thief nodded his head and then leaned back in his seat.

"First we'll check out some of his hideouts," he replied. He and his team had followed Warp for a long time. Mostly cause Gizmo loved to jack his shit whenever he made something interesting. As such he knew most of the places he tended to go whenever he was in town.

"Why?" Starfire questioned.

"Cause if Warp isn't at one of 'em he'll be at his place," the thief replied.

"If you know where the Warp lives, then would it not be more prudent to go there?" Starfire questioned. X grunted and turned to place his feet back on the ground and shot a look at the girl.

"Cutie I don't know where he lives, just a couple places he uses as labs for his tech or to hideout from the cops," he stated flatly. Starfire made an oh with her mouth while he pushed himself up and brushed off his arms. "Anyways, he could be at any of them, so we should check a couple of places to see where he actually is," he stated. The girl nodded and stood up as well, she then glanced down to her pizza.

"Um, I am afraid I have none of the moneys to pay for this," she admitted sheepishly. The thief blinked and looked at her strangely, then palmed his face with a groan…

00

(Later…)

Jump City had changed in the years since the Titans disbanded. Starfire could see that all too clearly. The buildings now towered over her more than ever. The limits of the city stretched out into the distance. It was as if the city had been stretched and skewed in all directions. And yet at the center, some places remained. Though sadly even those places had aged. Few of them had aged well.

Starfire flew while X jumped or teleported from roof to roof. She had offered to carry him but he'd been against it. She hadn't argued but it seemed like they were moving too slowly. Yet it gave her time to see buildings and places she could recall. Piano Pizza had remained, ironically enough it had been the thing that was the least changed of the city.

Raven's old bookshop was gone, as was her favorite depressing café. In their place were much larger buildings, ones that she didn't know the purpose of. The park the Titans had visited often had also vanished. In its place there was yet another building, some form of clothing shop. The 'mall of shopping' was still there, however it had been expanded to the point of being intimidating.

Starfire honestly didn't like it. Not one bit. The city felt much colder and unfriendly than it had before. She looked to X as he landed on a nearby building and halted. She flew next to him and looked down curiously. There were mostly empty streets down below, with the only thing visible being a few people in strange clothes.

"Have we arrived?" she questioned. X held up a finger and placed a finger to his helmet. He then grunted and shook his head.

"Nah, I just got a bit of info," he replied. He then crossed his arms with a frown. "Warp hasn't been popping up in the usual circles of late, not even the Brotherhood of Evil have seen him," the masked thief admitted. Starfire could hear the frown in his tone and rubbed her arms nervously. "Cold?" he questioned. The tamaranean beauty blinked and then quickly shook her head.

"O-oh no! I am fine, Tamaraneans are," she began, only for X to shrug off his coat and slip it around her. "But, what about," she began yet he held up a finger.

"I technically wear an enviro-suit, I could walk into the frozen tundra and be fine," he noted with a tap of his chest. "So to be honest I'm more than fine without the coat," he stated. He then pointed at the girl, particularly her exposed midriff. "You on the other hand, you barely have any clothes on, and especially none for this kind of weather," he noted dryly. Starfire rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I am Tamaranean, I am not so effected by the cold as a human would be," she responded plainly. X merely shrugged and looked back to the ground below.

"Better safe than sorry cutie," he stated. He then turned and leaped off of the building. Starfire blinked, then slipped her arms through the sleeves of the coat. She then followed behind the thief. She followed behind as he started down the street. She glanced at him with obvious curiosity. She wondered why they had moved to the ground, and where they were going exactly.

She wasn't able to ask however as they approached an old building. Unlike the others around it, it was rather tiny by comparison. X approached the building and then placed his fingers on the door. He was silent for a moment and then reached to the side and tapped on an odd keypad. The door fell inwards, X blinked and turned to Starfire. "He hasn't been here in a long while," he stated and then walked inside.

Starfire followed behind him and looked around. It seemed… strange. It wasn't what she had expected to be honest. It was a genuine lab, sure, but most of it looked normal. None of the strange devices or odd machines she would honestly expect a villain from the future would have in his lab. She could even tell what some of it was supposed to do. She could honestly imagine a legitimate scientist working in such a place…

"Notes on his vortex manipulator," X murmured from the side. Starfire glanced his way to see him sifting through a variety of papers on a clipboard. He then sat that to the side and picked up a tiny device attached to an odd glove. "A palm top? Why would he leave this behind?" he whispered and slipped the device behind his back. He also picked the clipboard back up and rubbed his chin.

"Red-X," Starfire called. She paused briefly to reflect on how odd it was to say the name outside of battle. The thief glanced at her with a raised brow.

"Yeah cutie?" he replied.

"May I be of assistance?" the girl queried. The thief glanced at her and then turned back to the clipboard.

"Check around the high places to see if he stashed something out of the way," he replied. Starfire pouted slightly but didn't argue. Instead she flew up and started to look around the support beams of the building. She didn't see anything at first, however soon paused when she noticed a small bit of plastic. She quickly grabbed it up and then shot back down to X with the device in hand.

"Perhaps this is being useful, yes?" she offered. X glanced at the plastic device and picked it out of her hand. He weighed it in his hand for a moment then flipped it up and caught it with a hum. He placed down the clipboard and then felt around it, before an old connector was ejected from one side. 

"A Flash Drive?" he questioned with a raised brow. Those hadn't been used in quite a long time. To be honest they had gone the way of other obsolete tech like PDA's and such. He shook his head of such thoughts and nodded to the alien powerhouse. "Nice work, lets move to the next place," he stated. He briskly walked out of the building, still looking at the clipboard, and Starfire followed close behind him…

00

(Jump City, Tech Sector…)

Starfire had followed Red-X through the city. Apparently, one of Warp's 'old' hideouts was located in the bad part of Jump City. The part few, if any, would stray too. It was only called the 'bad part' of the city because a bunch of gangs had made it their territory. However they had an understanding with Red-X, they stayed out of his way and he didn't beat the ever loving shit out of them on principle.

The gang this applied to the most were known as 'Jokerz'.

He hated the Joker with a passion few could match. It initially stemmed from his psuedo friendship with Harley Quinn and how Joker treated her. The fact that stupid kids had modeled themselves after him pissed him off. He only left them alone because they were barely worth his time. In all honesty he could kick their asses from here to Gotham and back if he wanted. But doing so wasn't worth the amount of effort it'd take.

The Jokerz knew that, and they stayed far out of his way as a result.

"Stay close cutie, this is the worst part of Jump City these days," the thief ordered his companion. Despite their understanding, he wouldn't put it passed a Joker to try and hit on Starfire. If they tried, he'd be the first to knock their lights out. He knew Starfire could do it herself, but it would make him feel better if he did. It always made him feel better when he got to punch a clown.

"This place seems almost familiar," Starfire admitted. They were over the city, Red-X moved from building to building in a static flash while she flew. She knew this place; it had changed less than the rest of the city, it had once been the 'Tech Sector' of Jump City. Now it was cold and dark. There were few signs of technology here. She also noticed eerie paint on the buildings in the image of a twisted grin and mocking laughter.

"Yeah, well trust me cutie, this is not a place you want to get lost," X stated. He landed on a building and walked to the side. He stilled and Starfire landed behind him as he looked around. He raised his hand to project a holographic map and clicked his tongue. Starfire stared at the map in surprise; she also wondered where it came from even as the thief moved it with his fingers.

He quickly scouted out the quickest route to Warp's old hideout and paused. 'Oh great,' he thought as he noticed a few emblems on the way to the building. Thankfully it was out of the way of the Jokerz. But the Mutants were more prominent in that area.

"Fuck, it's the Mutants territory," he muttered. The 'Mutants' were a lot tougher than the Jokerz, or at the very least they were more annoying. Unlike the Jokerz who were mostly normal, the Mutants were spliced up freaks. Having gone out of their way to alter their appearance and physical abilities to beyond that of average humans.

Their above average abilities also seemed to make them stupid. Unlike the Jokerz they never made an arrangement with him. Naruto had liberally said as much to the Jokerz, which they found hilarious. Of course they found everything hilarious. The only gang Naruto could stand were the Reds, a gang loosely based off of him, Red-Arrow, and Red-Hood. The gang was a lot more controlled than the others and a whole lot less irritating.

"Mutants?" Starfire questioned. X blinked and shook himself of such thoughts. He had a job to do and a girl to keep safe after all.

"A gang who've altered their DNA to get powers. Though by the time they're done you can't really recognize 'em as human anymore," he explained. Well he tried to explain it really. The Mutants were the last street gang that Starfire needed to meet. The Jokerz would be a joke, the Reds basically worshipped him, but the Mutants could be dangerous depending on what Spliced up freak they were dealing with.

"I see…" Starfire murmured with a frown. In the old days such a thing wouldn't happen. When the world changed she couldn't be sure. She wondered if her return home would stop it from happening or not. "I had no idea humans would take to such things so liberally," she admitted lowly. She'd seen or at least knew of other similar species, but they typically had a very different mindset than humans.

"The gang gets the treatment from somewhere in the city, as well as in other cities. The League mostly try to stop it, but the clinics are pretty well hidden. Aside from that, things change," the theif replied ominously. He wasn't even joking, that was the honest truth. Starfire shifted uncomfortably as she looked at the changed landscape of Jump City and felt sad to see it all in such a state.

"I would prefer if a few things would also stay the same," Starfire replied.

He silently agreed with her as he dispelled the holographic map.

Now wasn't the time for such thoughts. Instead, he led his red haired companion across the city rooftops. He stuck to the shadows to avoid the Mutants. But it seemed he shouldn't have bothered. The Jokerz and Mutants were in the middle of what looked like a small turf war. He could also see a couple Reds on the scene. It was good for him and Starfire; they could slip by in the chaos… if the girl didn't try to help…

Which of course she tried to do…

"Cutie no!" he growled as he caught her by the arm. He held firm even as she tried to pull herself from his grasp.

"But we must stop this, someone could be in danger," Starfire stated. X rolled his eyes and checked the area. His helmet made this doubly simple and once sure no one was around, save for the idiots in the gangs, he turned to the alien cutie.

"Nope, it's all clear," he stated flatly.

"Then we must stop them, they are destroying," she tried to say but Naruto placed a hand over her mouth.

"A run down derelict part of the city no one cares about," he stated flatly, "they also outnumber you six to one and I really don't think even your powers would make for good odds," he growled. Starfire twitched; the warrior in her knew he was correct. Some of these 'mutants' seemed to have enhanced abilities, which would undoubtedly make it a very difficult fight.

However the titan in her was certain that she could win… with a little help of course.

So she yanked his hand from her mouth. "Then help me, it is why the Fixit did the hiring of you, yes?" Starfire replied. She really wanted to stop this; these gangs were causing so much damage. She was a hero and it was her duty to stop them. More than that, it would be a bit of normalcy in an otherwise unfamiliar world.

"Then they'd just gang up on us," he growled. Much as he considered them jokes he didn't want to have to beat them all to a bloody pulp. He had had a few problems with holding back in recent years since Raven had…

"But we cannot just allow them to continue this unneeded violence," Starfire interrupted his thoughts and caused the man to groan.

"I thought you wanted to find Warp," he remarked. Starfire bit her lip pensively as she looked to the gangs. She could see large members with unnatural strength lifting vehicles over their heads and tossing them at the others. She saw a few with feral animalistic appearances literally try to maul others. She also noticed a few who looked to be made of ink or ooze of some kind…

"No," she stated firmly and turned to X with a frown, "I am a Titan!" she declared. X arched a brow, though smirked faintly beneath his mask. "It is my duty to protect Jump City, even if the city has changed, it is still my duty," she declared firmly. X allowed an amused chuckle to pass his lips. _'Nice to see someone isn't a quitter,'_ he noted to himself.

"Alright," he stated, "Let's go talk to the Reds," he stated with a nudge to the ground. He grabbed Starfire's hand and jumped down to the street below. They blurred into a static flash halfway down and reappeared behind an overturned vehicle. Several of the 'Red's' were stationed behind the vehicle with guns or other weapons and fired at one of the larger mutants.

X briefly took stock of the reds and noticed a familiar one. This particular Red he knew was one of the higher-ranking members in Jump City. He knew cause he kept tabs on these bozos. They wore his colors, they better be willing to listen to him. That in mind he walked over to the man, while Starfire followed on shaky legs. Once he reached the Red he tapped on his shoulder and he turned sharply.

"What the fuck do you…" the man began only to halt and snap to attention. "R-Red-X Sir!" he declared. His briefly eyed Starfire, but X forcibly brought his vision back to him. It was a silent declaration of 'hands off' which the Red would obey without question. One did not simply disobey one of the most dangerous people in Jump City. Especially when you wore his colors, and knew what he'd do to you if you didn't…

"What's the situation?" Naruto grumbled. The Red he was talking too was vaguely dressed like Red-Hood. In that he was dressed like a biker with a red helmet / mask on. A glance around showed a few skull masks and domino masks around the area as well, all in red of course. They weren't the only masks that the Reds would wear, just the most common. People in mock 'Red-Robin', 'Red-Raven', or 'Red Star' costumes were rare even among the Reds.

"The Jokerz are trying to muscle in on the Mutants turf," the Red began. He idly saw one of his men staring at Starfire and slowly shook his head. He then nudged in Red-X's direction and the other Red turned away fast enough that it looked painful. When he had turned the first Red turned back to X. "It eventually spilled over into our territory," the Red explained. X frowned and looked out over the 'battlefield' as it were.

"How many we got out here?" he questioned.

"Twenty five Jokerz, fifteen Mutants, and fifteen Reds," the Red responded.

"Powers?" X questioned.

"The Jokerz have a couple Hyena-splicers and a few unorthodox weapons. But the Mutants have Tanks and even a few Gels," he responded. X grimaced in response. A Tank was a broad term, which referred to a Splicer that was physically imposing, strong, and able to take a beating. They were also nearly brainless. To be honest he could easily take down a couple Tanks.

A Gel was another broad term for a Splicer in the vein of Clayface. They had insubstantial bodies that made fighting them annoying even on a good day. X knew this from experience.

"Right," he mumbled to himself. He then pulled Starfire and the Red close. "Cutie you and the Reds focus on the Jokerz," he ordered. Starfire slowly raised a hand and X sighed. "The guys and girls that look like clowns," he deadpanned. Starfire grinned sheepishly while the Red looked at her like she was an idiot.

"What about you?" she questioned.

"I'll take care of the Mutants," he responded. He then stood up and walked into the fray with a scowl under his mask. Starfire looked to the Reds only to see them rush the Jokerz. She was unsure for only a moment before she lunged at a girl that greatly resembled a hyena and punched her through a wall. She blinked when the Hyena Splicer didn't get back up. Were all these 'Jokerz' so weak?

"Did she just?" one of the Reds asked his fellow behind the girl. He had wide eyes as he stared at the hole in the wall.

"Must be a relative of Blackfire," another Red decided. That sentiment spread quickly and the Reds wisely stayed out of Starfre's way as she grabbed another Hyena Splicer. She then proceeded to throw him bodily into one of his fellows. The Reds took to tying them up after her. It was a lot easier and more efficient if they were honest. Sides, why do all the work when she was willing to?

Meanwhile, X cracked his neck as one of the Tanks ran his way. _'Too easy,'_ the masked thief thought as he zipped out of the way of the Tank.

The oversized behemoth paused to look around in confusion while the thief reappeared behind it. The masked man leaped into the air and kicked the Tank in the back of his head with enough force to slam him into the ground. The Tank landed with a heavy boom and thus alerted the others. As a result the other tanks lunged at the masked thief from behind, only for him to drop several explosive Xs to the ground and vanish once more.

The Xs exploded as soon as the Tank's arrived and knocked them all back, allowing the masked blond to swiftly knock them all unconscious. _'It's times like this I wish Mammoth was still around, he'd make these guys look even dumber,'_ the thief noted to himself. His heavyset friend was large and strong and physically imposing like the Tanks, but he was at least smarter than them.

However he then swore as one of the Gel's came at him from above.

' _These guys… err… girls on the other hand,'_ the masked man noted to himself as he stared at the female Mutant. He then swore as several more started to lunge at him, each with different body types ranging from 'mud' to something more akin to 'slime' in appearance. There was no real 'standard' to Gels, they had a lot of variance that he had made note of over the years.

Currently he also noted that all of the ones he was dealing with were annoying. They could stretch and skew their bodies in all directions and shapes. It made fighting them exceedingly annoying. _'Well if you don't have the right equipment anyways,'_ he admitted to himself. He was fortunate that his current suit had the ability to create the equipment he needed to deal with the most annoying type of the mutant gang.

He weaved and dodged around the Gels tendrils as they formed blades and all manner of other weapons. He took note of flails and drills and many other kinds of blunt or bladed implements. He could admit that, if nothing else, at least the Gels were more inventive than the Tanks. Sure it made them more annoying but at least they were never boring. Then again, sometimes he appreciated boring.

' _Now isn't one of those times,'_ he decided as he flipped out of the way of a net of tendrils from the gels and formed several X's into his hands. _'One for you,'_ he thought as he tossed the first X at a Gel. _'And one for you,'_ he continued as he tossed the next one. He then vanished in a static flash as another Gel lunged at him like a wave, he reappeared behind the Gel and tossed his next X at it's back.

' _Here's yours,'_ he thought mockingly as he landed. He then glanced up as a Gel formed his hands into a pair of sledgehammers. The Gel slammed its fists down only for the thief to vanish in thin air and reappear above him. _'And of course one for you,'_ the masked blond mockingly thought as he hurled his next X at the last of the Gels. As he landed on the ground he reached to his belt buckle and hit a switch.

Instantly all the gels started to ice over and the masked thief yawned.

"Too easy," he declared. He then noticed that several Reds had stopped fighting in order to stare at him in something akin to awe. Meanwhile Starfire was still fighting a few of the remaining stragglers on her own. _'Oh for fucks sake,'_ he thought with a mental frown. He then vanished in a static flash and reappeared by Starfire, where he then unlocked a Thermal Blaster and opened fire on the remaining Jokerz and Mutants.

The gangs halted as the crimson beam of heat trailed along the ground in front of them. They looked up to X, who glared at them with the barrel of his blaster smoking lightly. "Alright, any fuck heads that don't want to end up unconscious or on ice clear the fuck out," he ordered. The Jokerz didn't need to be told twice as they scurried away, the few still conscious Mutants did likewise though collected their fallen comrades as well.

' _Glad that's over,'_ X thought to himself. With a sniff he reached to one of his bracelets and collapsed the thermal blaster within it. He then turned to regard Starfire with a frown. "Happy now?" he questioned. The girl blinked then slowly nodded her head. "Good, then its time to go," he stated.

Starfire nodded her head and walked to the thief's side as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He paused for a moment to give the Reds a mock salute. "Later reds!" he declared. The two then vanished and reappeared on another nearby rooftop, where the masked thief walked with his hands in his coat pockets. As he did Starfire swayed briefly and grimaced. She really didn't like teleporting. With a shake of her head she quickly adjusted and shot after the masked thief.

"I thank you," she stated. X glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and frowned.

"For what?" he asked.

"For stopping the 'gangs' from fighting," the girl replied. X rolled his eyes.

"Not sure why you need to thank me for that," he admitted. Starfire smiled weakly.

"It was a bit of the normalcy that I greatly needed," she admitted. X glanced at her strangely and then patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Glad I could help," he murmured. Starfire smiled lightly, and then frowned to herself.

"Would you have really ignored them if I hadn't wanted to stop them?" she questioned. X blinked briefly and then nodded his head. "Why?" she questioned. He arched a brow and tilted his head. "You have the skills to fight them, why ignore them?" she reiterated. The masked thief hummed and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Cause they aren't worth my time, and the mayor doesn't pay me enough to deal with every random gang on the streets," he replied. Starfire looked at him strangely.

"Pay?" she questioned. X blinked and then recalled that the girl was a true hero, she didn't even accept payment for stopping crimes. _'Which I think is bull, even as a Shinobi I got paid for that kind of shit,'_ he noted to himself.

"You remember 'T.U.R.F.'?" he questioned. Starfire blinked and then nodded her head. It was an acronym, which stood for 'Titans Urban Reconstruction Fund'. In the past it was a fund set up by the city to help with repairs to damage caused by the Titans and their many enemies. She could even recall a number of times that Robin set up fund raisers to increase the amount of money in T.U.R.F.

"Yes," she replied. X nodded his head and then sighed.

"Well instead of using TURF to pay for damages, they use it to pay me so nothing gets damaged," the thief began, "Essentially I stop super-criminals, and the less damage they cause, the more I make," he explained. He then shook his head with a glance back. "Those punks back there are in the bad part of the city, most of it is already scheduled for demolition so I don't make anything for stopping 'em," he finished.

Starfire frowned in response.

"Why would you need to be paid to help people?" she questioned. X snorted in response.

"I'm not a hero cutie," he stated seriously, "Never really was," he remarked, "besides I need to eat don't I," he quipped playfully. With that they were off, X leaped or teleported from roof to roof while Starfire flew nearby. Soon the thief noticed their stop and leaped down to the ground below. Starfire angled herself downward to follow and paused as X knelt down next to a strange metal doorway in an old wall.

"What is that?" she questioned. X glanced back at her and waved her forward as he pushed the door to the side. He revealed a tiny dark room, which he then slipped inside of, and was swiftly followed by the alien teen. She paused so her eyes could adjust to the dark for a moment, and then raised a hand with a starbolt to create some needed light. X on the other hand raised his own hand, a hologram forming which generated light as well.

"Huh… he hasn't been here in a while," X remarked as he wandered through the space around them. Starfire followed only to yelp as she bumped her head against a support beam. "Watch it cutie," X advised. Starfire shot the thief a look and then raised a hand so she could note where the ceiling, and any more support beams, was.

"Why is this place being so small?" the tamaranean powerhouse questioned. X hummed in response as he paused to pick up and look through a notebook. He noted a few designs and such as well as what appeared like journal entries, so slipped it under his arm.

"Warp had a lot of hiding places, this was just one of his later ones," he responded. Though to be fair, most of said hiding places had only been minted because he and Tartarus had kept finding them and jacking Warp's shit. The masked thief chuckled to himself as he recalled the numerous times they had done so. Starfire approached him from behind and looked at him curiously.

"Is something funny?" she questioned. X glanced at her and smirked.

"You wouldn't get it," he responded. She looked at him with a pout as he then started to press on the boards above their heads. "Now I know for a fact he had a…" he paused and then muttered an 'aha' as he pushed a board out of the way and reached inside. He pulled out another notebook and frowned as he flipped through it. Most of the pages had been eaten away by water damage, but hopefully Giz could still make something of it…

"Alright time to go cutie," he stated as he put the other notebook with the first. Starfire idly nodded and then rubbed at her eyes as they made their way out of the small hidey-hole Warp had constructed. Once outside X took the time to put the door back the way it was and they were off yet again.

"To where are we going now?" Starfire questioned.

"Another place Warp occasionally used," X idly replied. Starfire tilted her head.

"How is it you know of these places?" she questioned.

"Me and my team used to rob him blind," the thief responded. Starfire frowned deeply and narrowed her eyes on the man. He glanced at her and rolled his eyes. "C'mon cutie it's not like you didn't guess I was a thief as well as a mercenary," he noted plainly. Starfire merely huffed. "Sides, Warp's a thief, I'm a thief, is it really stealing if it was already stolen?" he questioned. Starfire blinked and then frowned in confusion.

"I am not sure," she admitted. X allowed the girl to ponder that thought as he continued to look over the notes on the clipboard. He occasionally looked up to see where they were and how close they were to the 'hidey-hole' warp had on occasion used. To be honest it was just an out of the way storage unit. Why Warp had taken the time, not to mention the effort, to purchase the thing had been beyond him at the time.

' _Here's hoping it's still there,'_ he thought to himself. He didn't know what kind of payments Warp made on the storage unit. He hadn't bothered to keep tabs on the man either. It wasn't like he messed with his city on a daily basis after all. Johnny Rancid and his Motor-Head gang, now they messed with his city. Same with the Jokerz, and The Mutants, and The Steel Clan, and the…

Ugh, he hated how many gangs he had to keep tabs on. Mostly because they often attacked Gizmo's place and he had to defend his tech shipments. It was a tedious and mostly thankless job. The punks were barely even worth his time, but Giz did perform maintenance on his suit and gave him a place to stay.

"Red-X, are we perhaps getting close?" Starfire questioned. The thief blinked and looked up. The snow-covered streets had actually started to blend together. However he knew his way around Jump better than most. He quickly regained his bearings and turned down a street. Starfire followed, and idly pulled the coat closed around herself. She wouldn't admit it, but it did help, if only a slight bit.

"I wish it was warmer," she admitted aloud. X glanced back and hummed.

"It's been cold for a very long time. We had a bit of a problem with the climate a while back so it snows most of the year now," the thief admitted. Starfire looked at him with a curious expression. However the thief didn't bother to elaborate on what he meant. Instead he sighed and turned to her. "Tamaran is tropical right?" he questioned. Starfire blinked and genuinely smiled.

"Indeed, my home is a garden planet with a very warm climate," she replied cheerfully. She then blinked and looked at him strangely. "How is it that you knew that?" she questioned. X chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I worked with Blackfire a long time ago," he admitted. Starfire blinked in surprise then frowned deeply.

"I see," she stated softly. "How is she?" she questioned, genuinely curious. X was silent for a moment before he replied.

"Last I saw her she'd taken over Tamaran," he replied bluntly. Starfire arched a brow then hummed.

"I suppose that makes sense," she admitted. X nodded his head and omitted how she'd tried to find her to sell her off to a space blob thing. _'She's got more than enough on her plate right now,'_ he thought to himself. He then frowned as he saw Starfire yawn.

"You getting tired?" he questioned. However the red head shook her head and exhaled a breath.

"No, we should continue," she urged. X frowned but didn't argue with the redhead. She was his client, even if Fixit was footing the bill. You didn't get far if you always argued with your clients. If they were being stupid that was a different story. Though in this case he might have to put his foot down. Still that was for later, for now he turned back to the streets. He followed his mental map until they came to an old set of storage units.

He halted and turned quickly and caught Starfire as she suddenly fell to the ground. The girl groaned and then brought a hand to her head. She blinked her eyes, which seemed… dimmer than normal. _'She's exhausted,'_ he thought to himself. "Cutie we should really stop if your tired," he insisted. However the stubborn red head shook her head.

"I assure you I am…" she paused to cover her mouth as she yawned. She then smacked her lips and looked up at him with unfocused eyes. "I am perfectly fine," she stated with a resolute nod. The masked thief merely looked at her with an incredulous expression. _'There's normal stubbornness and then there's Uzumaki level stubbornness,'_ the masked thief thought then palmed his masked face. _'She's firmly in the Uzumaki level right now.'_

Despite his misgivings the thief stepped away from Starfire. She stumbled for only a moment before she pulled his jacket closed. She shivered and walked passed him, though stopped when she realized she didn't know where they were going. With a roll of his eyes the masked thief walked passed the girl and lead he onwards to the storage units. They passed under a gate and the masked man noticed a dark haired man sleeping nearby.

The man sat in a chair at the front of the place. He'd once been a goth who X had often noticed around the city. Black hair and all black clothing, he'd been the poster child for a goth. X had never really known what to think about the man. He still didn't if he was perfectly honest. After all, the guy still seemed to show up in the strangest places. He ignored the man however and walked towards the back of the storage units.

He came to one that had been locked and looked over the lock for a moment. _'Numeric digital lock,'_ he noted to himself. He mentally rolled his eyes and placed his hand onto the device. With a sudden spark his hand was covered in electricity. The lock sparked violently and then fizzled out. With that done X hefted the door of the storage unit open and looked inside. Starfire looked alongside him and hummed.

This 'lab' looked more like what she expected from a villain. The devices were ramshackle and made out of bits and pieces of this and that. Some of the strange devices within didn't even make sense as far as she was concerned. Then again, Starfire wasn't exactly an expert on technology to begin with. She knew more than most of course, but she didn't have the practical portion down…

She paused and yawned once more. X glanced at her with concern.

"You sure you're not tired?" he questioned. Starfire blinked her eyes and nodded her head. X muttered to himself and walked inside of the storage unit. Starfire followed and started to look around. The thief himself idly picked up a few scattered papers with a frown. They had been left in heaps all over the storage unit. Half drawn plans for this or that as well as notes and a few smatterings of journal entries.

' _Warp was trying to repair his suit,'_ X noted to himself. Though that had apparently been more than a task in and of itself. Current age tech just didn't cut it with a suit that had been built a hundred years in the future. _'Technically it'd be eighty now,'_ X mentally corrected then glanced back to see Starfire was sitting on a box, eyes half closed. _'Oh you have got to be kidding me,'_ he thought to himself.

It was one thing to be stubborn as an Uzumaki, but this bordered on just being stupid!

"Cutie, you're beat," he stated bluntly. Starfire quickly sat up and shook her head.

"N-no I am," she paused to yawn, then smacked her lips, "I am fine," she finished lamely. X palmed his face and shook his head. He then walked over to the girl and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, you're clearly tired," he stated sternly. Starfire merely blinked her eyes open and exhaled a breath. She then pushed herself back onto her feet only to stumble forward. X caught her and looked at her with a practically visible raised brow. "I'm taking you to get some sleep," he stated flatly. Starfire stubbornly shook her head.

"No!" she insisted. "I am not too tired to continue the search, we must be finding the Warp!" she stated firmly. The masked thief palmed his face and sighed.

"Why is this even such a big deal?" he questioned. "I mean c'mon cutie, just let me take you somewhere so you can get some rest. I'll go to Warp's other hideouts and give the stuff we found to a friend to analyze," he offered. Starfire shook her head in response.

"I am not needing the rest, I am a Tama," she began only to fall short and yawn once more. "Tamaranean warrior," she finished after a moment. "I do not get tired so easily as a human," she assured. X groaned and palmed his face. _'Okay so she's absurdly stubborn on top of being naïve…'_ he thought then blinked. _'Who the fuck is she reminding me of?'_ he wondered to himself.

"Cutie seriously, there's being stubborn and then there's just being stupid," the thief stated firmly. The Tamaranean merely narrowed her eyes on him. Though to be honest they looked a little unfocussed to him.

"I fail to see how this is important," the alien powerhouse slurred tiredly. She swayed on the spot until X suddenly leaned down and picked her up. "Put me down," she stated and lightly smacked the side of his helmet. The tamaranean beauty blinked and stared at her hand in confusion. She honestly wondered why she felt so… weak all of the sudden. However X merely looked at her with a flat expression.

"You're exhausted," the thief stated firmly. Starfire glared at him, only to blink when she realized how unfocussed her vision actually was. She was honestly seeing three of the older man. "I don't need you passing out on me Cutie, you are going to get some rest. Then I'm heading to the rest of Warp's hidey holes," he stated firmly. Starfire pouted and crossed her arms in a huff.

"I am not liking this at all," she murmured softly. X merely rolled his eyes as she yawned once more and leaned her head into his shoulder. "I am hoping the sun will be out soon. We must find the Warp… I need to get home…" she mumbled quietly. A second later she quietly breathed and fell into a deep dreamless slumber. As she did she felt X shift her in his arms and carry her out of the storage unit…

As he left, the thief had to wonder one thing. Why did he have the sudden feeling it was going to be one of those jobs where everything went to hell in a hand basket?

00

(Present day…)

"Why are you stopping?" Raven questioned. Starfire looked over to the clock in response and the dark titan followed her gaze. "Oh, I guess it is a bit late," she admitted. Starfire nodded her head and yawned.

"I feel it would be better if we waited to be continuing the story," she admitted. "If for no other reason then so we are not too tired by the end of it," she added. Raven merely nodded her head. Although she really wanted to know what had happened next. If she judged it on time, then Starfire's original story was far shorter. It honestly should have put up red flags that her story of being in the future was so short.

"Right well then we'll talk tomorrow," Raven offered. Starfire nodded her head and idly tapped her chin.

"Perhaps we could speak at the Mall of Shopping, so that the boys do not listen in," the alien powerhouse suggested. Her dark friend was momentarily surprised by the idea before she nodded her head. It was a good plan after all. And she really doubted that BB wanted to learn he died… truth be told she could have done without that tidbit herself.

"Right, see you in the morning Starfire," Raven offered tiredly.

"Please have the sweet dreams my friend," Starfire replied. With that Raven vanished into a black mass. Starfire stood up and turned off the terminal, then flew back into the depths of the tower to return to her room. Outside of the Ops Center, a certain figure in black removed his fingers from the window. He then leaped off of the tower and vanished in a static flash…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN:** The 'future' Starfire is in is based on a multitude of alternate futures shown in the games, animated movies, comics, and TV series based on DC thus far. It is also based on the actual future episodes of the series, IE: Terra's betrayal, Cyborg's upgrade obsession in Overdrive, Trigon's Return, The Brotherhood of Evil, etc etc. The colder climate in the 'future' is based on 'The Dark Knight Returns' mostly because that felt the most appropriate given how in the episode itself it was snowing fairly hard.

Now before anyone assumes I'll be updating every day, which is not going to happen, **ever**. To be honest I just really wanted this chapter out because for one thing, I was so amazed when everyone commented / liked / followed my story right off the bat. For another I wanted to answer a couple of questions you guys had. That said, I will not be updating again until at least a week from now.

 **TO EVERYONE WHO ASKED ABOUT THE PAIRING!** Answer: I don't plan on this being Naru / Raven, period, for a few reasons actually, one of which is simply that I've already done it in the previous version and I want to try something different this time. I also have to admit that after the original story, I saw a literal flood of Naruto-Raven pairings and I feel that it's kind of over done now. When I write my stories, I really like to try new things, it's why this version isn't going to be a simple copy-paste of the original with better grammar / storytelling. Despite that as you can clearly see, the 'future' version of Naruto and Raven did have a thing, but it's ended for reasons that will become more obvious later on.

 **Lord of Daemons: One question, how much of the stuff that was added to the canon Naruto-verse (like the true ten tails origin or Kaguya and her backstory the filler just added) are you going to use?** Answer: this Naruto is post fourth Shinobi world war, as I felt it was more interesting. So not only will Naruto be stronger, his reason for leaving will be altered as well.

 **DarkLord98: I just took a look at DH X, and I can definitely see why you think that they based Red X off this guy. Heck, at first, I though that the DH X was some sort of copy.** Answer: I know right! Although the creators of TT say they based 'Red-X' on Red-Robin, I swear that they got the design from Dark Horse's X. I also think the only reason we've never seen X pop up in the comics is because Dark Horse would sue the F out of DC for it since their X was around before Red-X. It's part of why I make Red-X look so different in this story.

 **MajorDarkblade: The biggest question for me here, is how close will this resemble the original?** Answer: This version of the story will differ greatly from the original yet mirror it all the same. Some things will be the same; some things will be only a little different, while others will be vastly different. So short answer, just waist and see!

 **Drust: hopefully you still do all those filler arcs where he goes to Gotham and shit.** Answer: I do plan on a lot of the filler arcs returning, though not all will be exactly the same. One tidbit for you: The Arkham Games are 'cannon' in this version.

 **raw666: If your going a retailing, I would suggest starting from the beginning even if its mostly copy and paste.** Answer: It is a retelling, but nothing will be 'copy pasted' from the original if I can help it. Also please remember that the episode 'How Long is Forever' which this arc is partly based on happened before Naruto even arrived on this world, hence why it's 'first' this time though running parallel to Naruto's first official meeting with the Titans. He does have a back-story and I will go into it, just wait a bit.

 **DragonPony022: I wonder will some of the events of the events from New 52 or Rebirth show up in this story seeing how she went into the future?** Answer: Funny story but while I was 'away' from fanfiction I started to read all the Teen Titans comics, from the eighties to the two thousands and yes that includes New 52 and Rebirth. Not only does this mean that they will appear, but other events from earlier comics will as well. I won't try to spoil anything… but well 'Titans Tomorrow' might ring a bell…

 **Shinku Ryuuga: Should I know why "Pride" is an emotion that can take over Raven, and why it is a darker color than even Shyness?** Answer: Pride technically appeared in the comics, and is Raven's true name from her father, that is all.

 **DarkbladerX666: How about using Sasuke instead of Naruto?** Answer: To be perfectly honest… I just really hate Sasuke, though he won't be bashed nearly as hard this time around. I've tempered my hatred quite a bit.

 **Noctus Of The Thousand Blades: does this mean some of your other fics will be given new life as well?** Answer: I do eventually plan to revamp at least a few of my stories. Mostly because, as is clearly evident with this story, my writing style has gotten a lot better and would look jarring if I tried to continue the originals as they are.

I sincerely hope that this answers everyone's questions, hopefully without any spoilers… anyways! Feel free to ask more questions, though I probably won't get a chance to answer them all again, especially if they would contain heavy spoilers. Regardless, till next time everyone, Allons-y!


	3. Future Tense PT2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 2**_ : _**Future Tense Pt. 2**_ …

00

(Jump City, Mall…)

Raven and Starfire had left the tower early that morning. Starfire had also put on an impressive show of 'dragging' her out with her to the 'Mall of Shopping'. She'd only stopped to suggest they go out in civies rather than their usual outfits. Thus Raven ended up in black hip-hugger jeans, a blue hoody, and blue / white sneakers. _'Why haven't I worn this before?'_ she'd wondered when she found the outfit in her closet.

She actually hadn't come up with an answer…

Starfire had gone with a purple halter-top, slightly longer purple skirt, and a pair of purple sneakers. Raven had honestly wondered if Starfire realized she didn't actually look that much different even with the lack of armor. Though rather than ask and delay their trip any further, she'd remained quiet as they left the tower. Starfire animatedly talked about this or that. The dark titan didn't really pay too much attention to be honest.

Starfire was one of the few people Raven liked to spend time with. However at the same time she also found it frustrating to be around her. She genuinely liked Starfire; she was a very open and honest girl, so she always knew she was genuine with her. Conversely, that openness made her emotions almost too easy for Raven to pick up on. As such Starfire had influenced many of her emotions.

Happy and Brave were the most obvious. Happy was so different and brighter now thanks to some minor influence of constant proximity to Starfire. Brave was more affected by Robin of course, but there was also subtle influence from Starfire and even Cyborg. Beast Boy had affected other attributes of her emotions. This wasn't to say they had 'changed' her personality, no; they just 'influenced' some of them a bit.

She shook her head of such thoughts as they walked into the mall. Her alien friend led her to an out of the way corner of the mall's food court. They grabbed a bite to eat and then went to find a seat. Starfire idly shifted in her seat. It was clear that she was distracted. It didn't take empathy for Raven to know that. Starfire practically wore her emotions on her sleeve after all.

"So, we were on your first day in the future and you'd just passed out when we stopped," Raven offered. Starfire looked up with a nod and inhaled a quick breath.

"I awoke the next day," she paused and considered, "or night, I am unsure when exactly," she admitted. "As the Red-X mentioned, it snowed at all times in that future," she explained sadly. Raven winced as she thought about their previous talk. The idea that the atmosphere was damaged wasn't too far out of reality. Given all the things they saw as heroes, the climate becoming that much colder was tame by comparison.

"So you weren't at full strength?" Raven questioned. Starfire smiled slightly and looked down.

"I am not a Kryptonian friend," she began and twiddled her fingers, "though I am given strength by the sun, it does not drain so quickly. And thankfully when I rested I regained quite a bit of my strength," the Tamaranean replied. "It was quite lucky as well, as when I awoke there was an alarm," she continued. Raven sighed and rubbed her temples. She didn't really need Starfire to tell her what that meant.

"Which of course meant that there was trouble," she murmured.

In the back of the food court, a young man sat with his arms crossed. He wore a black flak jacket over a red short-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and a black and red bucket hat to shadow his eyes. He had his boot covered feet propped on his table and leaned back into a wall. If one approached they might assume he was asleep. However, if one were to pay close attention they would notice he was intently watching the two girls instead…

00

(20 Years in the future…)

Starfire awoke to alarms blaring loudly. She turned and then rose up to find herself in a very bright room. She raised an arm to shield her eyes and then looked around. She was in a strange room. It was empty with only a few odd lights recessed into the walls. The girl blinked for a moment and then looked down. X's coat was gone but she was otherwise the same. Warp's device was even still clipped to her belt.

' _I… I fell asleep,'_ she recalled. She brought a hand to her head and then stood up. _'Where am I?'_ she wondered. She then quickly hurried to the door and looked out into a hallway. She paused when Red-X ran passed her and turned to look down the corridor. The masked thief turned on his heel and offered a wave in her direction.

"Morning cutie!" he stated and then turned back around. He hurried away and the alien powerhouse quickly pursued him. She followed the masked thief through what felt like a massive building. They passed hallways and doors to rooms, which she didn't stop to examine. Soon they entered a large room that vaguely resembled an Ops Center. Though it was far more advanced than what the Titans had had back at the tower.

Further she noticed a window and glanced outside. She hoped to be able to see the sun, or at least figure out what time it was. Instead all she saw was a dark and dreary sky, as well as even more snow than before. The sight caused her no small amount of sadness to be honest. It had only been something like a day, and she already greatly missed the sun. However that wasn't why she'd entered the room.

She turned to see X was by a large console and approached. However she paused when she saw an incredibly short man with a thick bushy red beard beside the thief. He was dressed in a green jumpsuit with a hood and goggles; several silver gadgets strewn across his body while the metal backpack seemed quite familiar… Especially with the enormous green on black G on it… wait a second…

"Gizmo?" she questioned. That drew the attention of both men. Gizmo turned with a scowl while X glanced back over his shoulder and chuckled. He idly patted the tiny terror on his head.

"Yeah it's Giz, he's not really a midget anymore, but he is most assuredly a dwarf," the masked thief declared. Gizmo growled and brushed the thief's hand from his person.

"I heard that you shit eating ass hat!" the tiny terror roared. X simply rolled his eyes.

"I know," he replied cheekily and Gizmo started to swear under his breath. The thief chuckled and looked back to Starfire. "Giz owns this building, he started a tech company and got out of villain work a long time ago," masked blond explained. Starfire looked at Gizmo in surprise and tilted her head.

"Really? I had thought you enjoyed the villainy," she admitted. Gizmo glanced at her and grunted in response.

"I did, but it wasn't as fun anymore after robo-geek got trashed," he responded. Starfire frowned at the tiny terror. She knew that 'Robo-Geek' was one of the insults he tossed at Cyborg when they battled. Given how bad Cyborg was right now, she was more than a little angry he insulted him. However before she could make her displeasure known X cleared his throat and got Gizmo's attention.

"So what's happening Giz?" he questioned. He just hoped that Starfire wouldn't try to make the insult a big deal. That was just what Gizmo did, he insulted people, most learned to live with it after a while. Gizmo grunted and quickly set to work on several holographic keyboards that floated in the air. He quickly formed a screen and soon a video of an armored truck appeared on its surface.

"Steel Clan jackasses are messing with one of my trucks," the tiny terror replied. X crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Great, the legion of wannabe Cyborgs are back," he grumbled irritably. Starfire raised a brow at the description.

"The what?" she questioned. X sighed and tried to think of how he could describe them.

"Think a bunch of punks who thought it'd be a good idea to cut off and then replace organs and limbs with cybernetic implants to get superpowers," he finally decided. Starfire looked aghast and Gizmo nodded.

"Yeah, basically like the Borg from Star Trek, only with a lot more individuality and autonomy," he confirmed. Starfire merely shivered as the description actually sounded like something else to her.

"They almost remind me of the Mondasians," she admitted nervously. That caused Gizmo to pause and look at her incredulously.

"Wait, those fuckers are real?!" he demanded with wide eyes. X put a hand on his shoulder with a flat look.

"Skip it Giz," he ordered. Gizmo growled and turned back to his console. He started to mutter curses at X even as he worked. "Anyways," the thief murmured as he turned to the alien, "You okay now Cutie?" he questioned, "I mean you kind of passed out on me before," he reminded. Starfire felt her brow twitch at what was certainly his 'nickname' for her. She was honestly starting to understand why Raven hated them so much.

"Yes, I am feeling much the better now," she replied. X nodded and crossed his arms.

"You can thank Giz for that, he had a spare room where you could rest," the masked man explained. Starfire looked to Gizmo with a raised brow.

"Yes," she mumbled with a frown. Gizmo had insulted Cyborg, but he always did so she supposed she could let it pass. He had also allowed her to rest in his building, so she supposed that she could at least be courteous to him. So she gave a bow at the waist. "I thank you for the use of the room," she offered candidly. Gizmo snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, just don't let that shit happen again," the tiny terror ordered. Starfire frowned slightly as she straightened back up. _'Must he be so hostile?'_ she wondered to herself. X took that moment to interject with a hand on Gizmo's shoulder.

"Okay Giz, back to the truck," the masked thief ordered. His friend frowned and turned back to his console. He brought up images of what looked like advanced versions of Cyborg to Starfire. Well some of them did, others looked like they had been pieced together from random robot parts. She would have commented on that too, had Gizmo not decided to speak instead.

"I had a truck heading to one of my research facilities outside of town," Gizmo began as he brought up a holographic 3D image of Jump City. The map was then expanded into the desert just outside the city limits and to a large facility of some sort. Starfire marveled briefly while Gizmo brought up an image of the truck once more. "The shipment isn't full of weapons so I didn't think it'd need protection," he admitted.

"But the Steel Clan don't care about weapons," X murmured with a frown in his voice. "They want tech in general so they can upgrade their systems," he noted aloud. Gizmo nodded his head with a grunt of acknowledgement. He then brought up a video of the 'Steel Clan' as they attacked the truck within the city limits. "Ugh, punk kids don't have any respect," the thief grumbled darkly.

"Yeah," Gizmo agreed. "This shit wouldn't have flown back when the rest of Tartarus was active," the tiny terror stated firmly. X merely nodded his head in agreement with his friend. He then looked at the map and watched as Gizmo brought up a blip on it. "The truck is there right now. I'm hoping you can get down there and retrieve it from those cybernetic punks," he stated. X nodded his head and turned on his heel.

"Perhaps I could assist you," Starfire suggested. X blinked and looked at her then shook his head.

"Nah, I got this," he replied. Starfire made to argue however he walked passed her without a second thought. She frowned and watched him leave, while Gizmo snickered.

"Temp doesn't like it when people try to help him, toots," the tiny terror stated. Starfire looked at him curiously.

"Temp?" she questioned. Gizmo blinked and then grunted.

"It's short for 'Tempest' he used to go by that," he explained. Starfire made an 'oh' with her mouth then frowned.

"Is there a reason for the name?" she questioned. She'd noticed that a lot of people on earth seemed to describe themselves with their names. A few examples that came to mind were Cyborg, Gizmo, Jinx, Beast Boy, Thunder, Lightning, etcetera etcetera. So it wouldn't surprise her if Red-X also had a reason for his original name. Gizmo looked to the side and then frowned to himself.

He could spill the beans on X's real powers, but did he want too? Sure he and X had a hostile friendship, but they were still friends even if they insulted one another. Hell, X was the one who helped Gizmo build up his company. Between his mercenary work to help him pay for the original loan, not to mention the building, and all his subtle corporate espionage the once thief had made Gizmo's business boom.

Then again, Gizmo did kind of pay him back with the upgraded X-suits he was constantly building for him. Moreover he also let the guy live in the building. This was despite the fact X had a private island off in the middle of who knew where, and could quite easily retire whenever he wanted. He just didn't want too. Then again, X was the type who liked to have something to do… still…

"Doesn't matter," Gizmo finally told her. He turned back to his console and started to look over some new designs his tech boys had for him. The girl would eventually find out about X's gifts, but not from him. Starfire frowned to herself then sighed.

"Then why would he not accept my assistance?" she questioned. "Would it not be safer if there were two of us," she stated with a nod. Not to mention they could finish this 'mission' faster if they worked together. Then with that done the thief could get back to helping her locate Warp so she could get home. Gizmo rolled his eyes and shook his head in response.

"Safety isn't an issue with X," the tiny terror noted with a shake of his head. The masked man had gotten himself into worse scrapes than anyone else in Tartarus. Part of it was that he'd been reckless as fuck back then; the rest was just that he didn't care due to his ability to regenerate. He could heal from most anything the Steel Clan could throw at him, so with that in mind he turned with a sharp look at Starfire.

"He also doesn't like working with others, he looks out for himself first and foremost," he added. He then paused and a frown crossed his lips. "Well, he looks out for himself _**now**_ , used to have help from the rest of our team. He just stopped accepting it after a while," he murmured more to himself than the girl. Starfire tilted her head and then flew over to the tiny terror.

"What happened to cause him to behave as such?" she asked. She was genuinely curious, as the Red-X seemed quite personable in her opinion. He was certainly a bit immoral, but then again, he used to be a thief. Plus she did know that the 'police' were similar in that they helped people for money. Gizmo clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes behind his goggles dangerously.

"Shit happened and it messed with his head that's what!" he snarled at her. He really didn't want to go down memory lane to dredge up that mess. Starfire took a step back as Gizmo glared at her. He took a quick breath and turned away from the girl with a scowl. "Anyways you don't know how he fights so you might get in his way," he added. Starfire huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I admit that I do not know how he fights, but I can adapt," she replied. Though as she did the tiny terror noticed she underwent a subtle change in tone. He idly realized that he better recognized this Starfire than how she was before. He was also amused to see that the 'warrior' he could vaguely recall from his youth was real. The 'cute' girl was kind of irritating if he were to be perfectly honest.

"So that is no reason for me to remain here," she stated firmly. The hardened edge to her tone caused him to glance back and note her stern expression. It didn't faze Gizmo at all. While he was cautious of the Tamranean, thanks to past experiences with Blackfire, he wasn't actually afraid of her. He'd seen far worse looks from X when the masked thief was well and truly pissed off, and Blackfire was honestly scarier in general compared to her younger sister. 

Still, it wasn't his job to look after X's other clients…

"Fine," the tiny terror allowed. Starfire smiled brightly in response. Gizmo idly brought the map back up and looked for X on it. He then turned to the redhead with a flat expression, "just don't blame me when X gets pissed off," he told the girl seriously. She blinked but nodded her head all the same. Though to be honest she didn't see why Red-X would be angry with her if she only wished to help him…

00

(Jump City, Streets…)

Naruto hated to admit it, but he was happy he was on his own right now. Though Starfire was cute, he wasn't exactly thrilled that he had to essentially baby-sit her. He liked to do things on his own nowadays. Sure he still had Gizmo, but that was more tech support than anything else. As far as 'field work' went, the masked blond was the go to guy. Not that Gizmo complained about that.

To be honest, Naruto had a feeling the tiny terror liked how things were in their lives.

The blond ran from building to building. His coat was back on and he'd picked up an old wakizashi from his room. The weapon would be useful in a fight with cyborgs. He loved his suit and its many functions, but he didn't want to stagnate his other abilities. So he'd grabbed the blade and magnetized the scabbard to the back of his belt. With it he'd be able to pull off quite a few things he couldn't with his wrist blades.

Gizmo had, unfortunately, never managed to perfect the creation of Chakra blades. It turned out that there was some part of the 'forging' process that they simply didn't understand. So while his wrist blades could be useful, the wakizashi he'd gotten from the Samurai back home was the only Chakra Blade he had. To be honest Tsunade had barely trusted him with that.

The blond chuckled as he recalled how much that had annoyed him at the time. He'd thought it'd be cool to have a Ninjatou, or a Chokatou, or even a Katana. Instead he'd been given a short sword, which to be honest had eventually grown on him. The longer blades and handles would've stuck out too much with his current style. Though if he could use his Chakra on his wrist blades that point would be moot…

' _Maybe we should try to remake those,'_ he considered to himself. He then paused and came to a halt when he realized he'd arrived. He took a quick look over the side of the building and frowned. He spotted several Steel Clan Cyborgs around Gizmo's truck. There seemed to be a dozen or so of them total. It didn't really matter though. They'd all be down soon enough.

The street was more or less abandoned with a few lights on in nearby windows. It seemed that the cops hadn't approached. The masked thief saw the prudence of that to be honest. While the JCPD were better equipped now, the 'villains' were also more technologically advanced as well. It also didn't hurt that X was kind of on the mayor's payroll to deal with any 'Super-Threats' like the Steel Clan.

As such they were often asked by the mayor to leave super-threats to him, so he could quickly, quietly, and carefully deal with the problem. This primarily meant he had to take out super-threats without doing thousands of dollars in damages or he'd lose his pay. The less damage was caused to the city, the more he made. It was partially why he'd stopped using Jutsu in the city. For the most part, all of his good ones did too much damage.

Regardless, he had no problem making that small concession for the amount he was paid. _'S-rank at the least,'_ he internally remarked. He then shook his head and focused on what he could see below. It looked like the Steel Clan had hit the armored truck with something. _'Something bigger than the usual blasters anyways,'_ he noted with a frown. He'd have to figure out what that was after he was done with this job.

He didn't want to have to constantly look out for Gizmo's trucks after all.

The Truck itself was a heavily armored vehicle, which seemed more or less intact. Save for the Cyborg that was trying to cut it open and the massive dent in its side. He couldn't see inside of the vehicle however so wasn't sure if the driver had survived the assualt. _'Not likely,'_ he admitted to himself. While the vehicle was armored, he kind of doubted that the Steel Clan cared enough about his survival to be gentle.

While they were nothing but a bunch of punks, they were impressively ruthless when they wanted to be. Far more so than many of their rival gangs. Barring the Mutants actually, they were the only gang that was even close to being as ruthless as them. Though that was probably due to similar mentality, only with a vastly different method of achieving the end goal.

He shook such thoughts from his mind and leaned forward for a better vantage of the ground below He noticed that the Steel Clan had circled the truck. _'Great, time for an old favorite,'_ he decided with a mental smirk. " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!** _ **(Shadow Clone Technique!)**_ " he whispered. With a plume of smoke a second Red-X appeared beside of him. He glanced at the clone and it nodded and then vanished in a static flash.

Naruto himself let out a chuckle as he leaped forward then raised his arms and crossed them in an X over an electric line. He rode down the length of the line, sparks flying from his wrists, before he flipped forward and landed in the center of the cyborgs. They turned to him quickly but he unsheathed his wakizashi. He channeled a fair bit of chakra into it and the edge of the blade glowed a soft subtle violet.

' _Time to work,'_ he thought to himself. He lunged at the first Steel Clan Cyborg. The Cyborg tried to raise its gun arm, however he quickly sliced both arms from the man. Neither was organic so it wasn't like he couldn't get them reattached. The blond then turned into a kick to his face that knocked him back a step. He finished with a second kick to the Cyborgs chest, which sent him flying back into a far wall.

' _Looks like minor structural damage to the exterior wall,'_ he noted to himself with a frown. He could live with that. The next Cyborg came at him from behind while he was distracted. However the masked blond effortlessly dodged to the side to avoid the jab. He then twisted to the side and kicked the Cyborg away as well. The next started to fire at him with an arm-mounted blaster.

Naruto vanished in a static flash to evade the first shot and then reappeared behind the cyborg. He swiftly removed the Cyborg's arm, blaster and all, and then grabbed onto his head with both hands. His gloves sparked with electricity as he shocked him with his electro gauntlets. The cyborg screamed in pain and the masked thief flipped from him and landed in a low crouch.

He slowly rose back up and turned to the few remaining Steel Clan members. He raised a hand and made a simple 'c'mon' gesture. The Steel Clan who lacked ranged weapons lunged at him first. The masked thief narrowed his eyes and dodged a few sloppy attacks from them. Despite their strength, neither of the cyborgs were adept fighters. To be honest their over-reliance on tech to make up for their lack of skill was disgusting.

X dodged a punch from one and then flipped back as the other slammed his fists into the ground. The road cratered beneath his fists and Naruto twitched. _'Pot hole, not too bad that I'll lose out on a fortune,'_ he noted to himself. He then flipped his wakizashi into a backhanded grip and lunged forward. The two cyborgs lunged forward and threw punches at his head, but he effortlessly weaved around the poor attacks.

He then swung his blade and 'disarmed' the men. Literally! The two Steel Clan cyborgs didn't cry out. Which didn't surprise him as they tried to punch him with their remaining limbs. Many of the Steel Clan had phased out 'weaknesses' like pain when they became cyborgs. The blond thought that was a stupid idea, as pain really would've helped them. Mostly to detect subtle attacks that did only minor physical damage over time.

Still he dodged the sloppy punches from the Steel Clan Cyborgs by ducking down. To be honest, much like The Mutants, the Steel Clan was annoying, not dangerous. No worse! They were idiots who had pilfered tech to become walking junkyards. At least The Mutants didn't cut off perfectly healthy limbs. He saw the practical use of cybernetics and bionics of course. Hell, he had a 'prosthetic' arm himself. It was replacing healthy organs and limbs that he didn't get.

But that was neither here nor now.

He vanished in a static flash from between the two Cyborgs as they lunged at him. The two slammed into one another and fell unconscious, while the thief appeared on top of the truck. He ducked as the other Cyborgs opened fire on him with arm mounted blasters of all types. _'Thermal Blasters, X-rays, even sonic cannons,'_ the thief noted to himself with a mental shake of his head.

' _These guys are so out of their league,'_ he mentally remarked. He then narrowed his eyes and leaped into the air. He deflected several blasts with his wakizashi and then turned in the air to land in a low crouch. The eyes of his mask flashed as he surged forward with unreal speed. He sliced one of the punk's blasters open and then leaped away as his arm exploded and sent him flying.

Naruto turned to the others and surged forward like a red / black blur…

Nearby, Naruto's clone slunk around the front of the van. The clone glanced at where the original had the Steel Clan more than preoccupied with a grin. The punks literally had no idea who they were dealing with. Sometimes it was too easy to get one over idiots like them. He shook such thoughts off as he opened the passenger's side door to the armored car. He paused as the driver's body nearly spilled out on top of him.

' _Well that confirms that he's dead anyways,'_ X noted. He paused when he saw the thin wounds on the man's neck. _'That wasn't caused by a blaster,'_ he thought and glanced inside of the armored truck's cap. In the driver's seat was a spindly metal device with one optic and bladed tentacles for limbs. If he judged it by its size and the broken driver's window, he'd assume it was launched into the car and killed the driver.

' _That would explain the dent on the truck,'_ he added to himself. He then ducked as the things 'head' turned his way. It stilled for a moment, its optic focused and unfocused, then it slowly turned away. _'It's on a simple rotation,'_ he realized. He took a moment to think back to his previous encounters with the Steel Clan. However he frowned as he realized he'd never seen this thing or anything remotely similar to it before.

' _So they got new tech,'_ X thought with a frown. If that weren't bad enough it'd be something he'd have to grab for Giz. Whenever the Steel Clan got new tech he always made him collect it so he could study it for future reference. Luckily the drone hadn't noticed him yet as it continued to turn in a simple back and forth motion. Moving silently the clone reached out to the drone as his hands sparked with electricity.

He quickly grabbed it and caused the drone to shiver, beep wildly, and then fall over. X breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't explode. He hated having to explain that kind of thing to Giz. Instead he got up and shuffled inside of the drivers seat. "Move over, I'm driving," he quipped dryly as he shoved the drone to the side. He then reached over to pull the driver's body back into the cab and started up the truck…

Naruto heard the truck start up and mentally smirked. _'This was a cakewalk,'_ he thought with a smirk. Normally the Steel Clan were more difficult to deal with, especially when they had Cypher with them. The annoying hacker made things difficult simply because he sucked at Cyber Warfare. That was probably his one glaring fault and Gizmo had tried to make up for it. Unfortunately they still had problems with Cypher from time to time.

He flipped out of the way of more blaster fire and leaped to the top of the truck. The Steel Clan Cyborgs were hardly worth his time to be honest. Of course he hadn't even been all that worried about them to begin with. Outside of actual Super-Villains or even a couple Super-Heroes, there were few people he was actually wary of fighting. He paused his thoughts as bolts of green light slammed into several of the Steel Clan Cyborgs which bowled them over.

Having worked with Blackfire, it didn't take much effort to figure out what they meant.

' _Ah shit, the cutie's here,'_ he thought with a frown. He glanced up to see the purple clad alien fly down and launch several more starbolts at the cyborgs. Naruto grunted and teleported in a static flash. He appeared above the girl, grabbed her, and teleported back to the truck as it suddenly sped off. He kept low and then glared at the surprised girl. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I wished to offer my assistance," the girl replied with a blink of her eyes. Naruto groaned and palmed his face in annoyance. As he did he felt the truck pull into traffic and breathed a mental sigh of relief. The Steel Clan cyborgs were dealt with; the truck was on its way back, so honestly the girl was more than a bit late to the party. He lowered his hand and fixed the girl with a look.

"Cutie, I'm perfectly fine on my own," he stated and sheathed his wakizashi at the back of his waist. He then motioned to the truck below them. "Hell, I don't even need your help now," he added. The tamaranean powerhouse pouted and crossed her arms.

"I was thinking it would be faster if we worked together," she admitted. Naruto scoffed.

"Clearly not," he responded. He then paused at a sound. He looked down the street and narrowed his eyes. The inside of his helmet changed, zooming in on the distance to allow him to see several motorcycles running over or around traffic. More Steel Clan were riding them… "Oh you have got to be shitting me," the masked thief muttered. Starfire looked to the motorcycles as well before she regarded the masked blond.

"I would assume that that is more of the 'Steel Clan', yes?" she questioned. Naruto felt his brow twitch but nodded his head. "Then it is safe to assume that you are not finished," she continued. Again, Naruto nodded his head though now with a frown. The girl smiled in response. "Ah, then it would seem I arrived at the perfect time to assist you," she stated cheerfully. Naruto just exhaled and tried not to growl.

"Just make sure none of them get on the damn truck," he ordered. Before Starfire could ask what he meant he vanished in a static flash. He reappeared over the first of the motorcycles and landed on the front of it. The Cyborg riding it raised his arm to grab him, only for the masked thief to slice his arm off at the elbow. "Buddy I am in no mood to play with you or your friends tonight," he stated flatly.

With that he took hold of the motorcycle and teleported over the nearby bay. He then let go of it and gave a mock salute as he teleported away. The cyborg and his motorcycle fell into the bay while Naruto reappeared above the truck. He landed in a low crouch, and then ducked under a low hanging sign. He took a moment to look for Starfire and then growled low in his throat.

"Cutie where the hell did you go?" he demanded.

"I am present," Starfire declared from the back of the truck. Naruto padded forward and looked down to see her standing on the rear bumper of the truck with a starbolt in hand. She looked up briefly, and then looked back behind the truck and hurled her Starbolt at one of the Steel-Clan bikers. The cyborg was knocked back into a skid along the ground and crashed into another of the motorcycles, which caused a chain reaction to pile up.

Naruto felt his brow twitch as he watched. _'Oh the mayor is so chewing me out for that,'_ he noted to himself. He then looked back down at Starfire with narrowed eyes.

"Isn't that really dangerous?" he noted. Starfire rolled her eyes.

"I am able to fly, this is hardly unsafe for me," she replied. Naruto felt his eye twitch. That hadn't been what he meant damn it! Again, he had the strangest feeling that the girl was reminding him of someone. Yet for the life of him he couldn't recall who that was supposed to be!

"I meant for the Steel-Clan and the bystanders behind us," he growled. Starfire paused to consider this for a moment. She then looked up at him with a sheepish grin.

"I may have not thought of that," she admitted. Naruto palmed his face once more. Again, she was really reminding him of someone and he still couldn't figure out who it was! Now it was just annoying him! _'Chew out the Cutie now, figure out who she reminds me of later,'_ he decided. He took a quick breath to calm his nerves and glared at the red haired titan.

"Cutie this is my town," he stated firmly. "That means you follow my rules or else I personally kick your cute little ass from here to your tower and back!" he growled at her. Starfire winced and nodded her head demurely. He then raised a finger with his eyes narrowed on the girl. "Rule 1, no one trashes my city but me!" he stated firmly. "Rule 2, never try to protect my city without my consent!" he added with another finger.

"Rule 3," he began but was cut off by the alien powerhouse.

"Um Red-X, I believe more of the Steel Clan are approaching," Starfire noted aloud. Naruto looked up and then frowned when he saw two more motorcycles were heading their way. On top of that one of them was carrying a shoulder-mounted gun. _'What is that thing?'_ he wondered to himself. Moments later the shoulder-mounted weapon was fired and a large metal ball was sent spinning toward them.

Starfire and Naruto braced themselves as the ball hit the back of the truck. The large ball had left a descent-sized dent in the armored truck. However that didn't matter as several tentacles tipped with sharp blades pulled it out of the dent it had made. A single optic was pulled from the casing, which formed around a 'head' of sorts like armor. Starfire was confused by it then yelped as it stabbed at her with its sharp legs.

She evaded it by flying into the sky while the machine turned to Naruto instead. The man in question shook off his surprise and then grabbed one of the things tentacles as it stabbed at him and zapped it with his electro gauntlets. The drone shivered and then went offline a moment later, its optic dim. The masked blond frowned deeply as he picked up the machine and stared at it.

' _Okay I know the Steel Clan don't have access to this kind of shit,'_ he thought to himself with narrowed eyes. Drones were rare even in the modern age. Mostly because AI's were kind of outlawed after an incident with a rogue one. Though to be fair this was probably not an AI controlled device. He'd more readily believe it was a VI of some kind and only had preset orders…

"Red-X more are coming!" Starfire warned. Naruto blinked then looked up with wide eyes as he saw more of the Steel Clan take aim with similar shoulder-mounted weapons. _'How many of these damn things do they have!?'_ he inwardly demanded. Seriously, this was ridiculous! Drones were rare enough, how did a bunch of punks get enough to fire them off like fucking missiles?!

"I see 'em," he replied and formed a few X-Shuriken into his free hand. Gizmo would probably want to study the weird drones after this. He watched the two and quickly flung his Shuriken at one of them. The Steel-Clan member flew forward as his front tire went out. Yet the other one fired his shoulder-mounted weapon and another of the drones was embedded into the side of the truck.

The drone quickly unfolded itself and leaped at the theif. Naruto grunted as the thing tried to stab at him with its tentacle limbs. He rolled out of the way and rose into a low crouch. He quickly unsheathed his wakizashi and narrowed his eyes. He rolled out of the way of the drone's legs once more and then sliced upwards with his wakizashi. He smirked as it fell to pieces… then blinked when he saw the Steel Clan Cyborg prepare to fire another at them.

' _Wait what?'_ the blond questioned then glared down at Starfire. The girl had her arms crossed and had leaned back against the doors of the truck. "What are you doing?" he demanded. She simply shrugged her shoulders in response. The masked blond palmed his face and took a breath. "I thought you wanted to help!?" he growled at her. She looked up at him and then shrugged yet again.

"You did not say I could help, that is a rule, is it not?" she returned. Naruto mentally groaned and palmed his face. _'Of all the asinine,'_ he thought with a growl as he looked back at the girl. "Now is so not the…" he paused as another drone slammed into the side of the truck. He then looked at the girl with a scowl. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" he accused. Starfire yawned in feigned disinterest.

"I am sure I am not knowing what you mean," she replied, "you were saying that I should be following your rules, I am merely doing as you asked," she stated with a nod. Although he could swear she had a small, though amused, smile on her face. Naruto rolled his eyes and then let out a breath through his nose. He noticed the latest drone had started to unfold and growled in his throat.

"Alright fine already!" he shouted at her. "You can help," he allowed. He then grunted as the latest drone launched itself at him. As he dealt with the drone Starfire smiled brightly and uncrossed her arms. She quickly formed a Starbolt in her hand, which she promptly hurled at the Steel Clan member still following them and knocked him off of his bike…

00

(Present Day…)

Raven chuckled to herself. She honestly never would've thought Starfire had it in her to do something like that. Starfire looked at her friend curiously. "Do you find something funny friend Raven?" she questioned. The violet haired sorceress merely smirked.

"I'm just feeling really proud of you is all," she responded. She honestly was too. Technically Starfire was older than her, she sometimes felt like she was older than the bubbly alien. Though part of that was just how often Starfire required her or one of the other Titans to explain something simple to her. Starfire herself tilted her head to the side.

"I fail to see what you would be so proud of," she responded. Raven raised a brow while the tamaranean picked up her mustard for a drink. The dark titan then watched as the girl smiled brightly. "Should I continue friend Raven?" she questioned. The dark bird rolled her eyes and nodded her head. Starfire took a moment to collect her thoughts and then continued with her tale.

Nearby, the youth who watched them snickered to himself. He could appreciate a good prank after all. Even if it was on 'him' so to speak… though his future self kind deserved it in his opinion. He was starting to sound like a dick if he were honest. It seemed like he'd become way too serious in that timeline.

' _Note to self, do not end up like him,'_ he decided resolutely. He also decided he needed to get back at Starfire for that prank… and that she probably owed him a pizza. Given she had no money earlier and he'd had to pay for her pizza anyways. Or maybe he could even weasel a date out of her for it…

00

(20 years in the future…)

Starfire flew into the air to keep track of the remaining Steel Clan bikers and fire a volley of starbolts at them. Naruto noticed this and breathed a sigh of relief. He then frowned and shocked the drone in his hands. _'I can't believe the cutie got one over me,'_ he thought to himself. He then looked down at the drone in his hands and hurled it out of the way. It landed off to the side, though thankfully out of the way of traffic.

That dealt with Naruto noted that they were finally leaving the city limits.

' _Once we get out of the city I won't have to be careful anymore,'_ the masked thief thought to himself. However he then grunted as the truck lurched to the side. He also suddenly had the knowledge of his clone. The last thought it had had was that a drone was coming for it. He also looked down at the drone he'd collected earlier with a frown. _'My clone already had one of these fucking drones!'_ he noted flatly.

With a sigh he tossed the drone away. He then looked up to Starfire with a frown. "Cutie get to the front of the truck, we've got a problem," he shouted at the girl. With that done he rushed to the front of the truck. He flipped over and then into the cab from the side and kicked the drone through the passenger's side door. The drone flew out of the cab and onto the road where he heard something smash into it.

He chuckled then gripped the steering wheel as he narrowed his eyes on the two Steel Clan Chumps ahead of him. _'Alright boys, time for a little game of chicken,'_ he thought. He glanced to the side as Starfire entered the cab from the now missing door. She paused when she saw the deceased driver slumped in his seat. However she didn't 'freak out' when she saw the body. Instead she just looked sad for a moment, before her eyes suddenly hardened.

"Red-X, did the 'Steel Clan' people do this?" she questioned firmly. Naruto raised a brow then nodded his head. The girl suddenly clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "I am suddenly wishing I was much less gentle with them," she admitted. She then looked at the body strangely. "I am curious, why is the body still here?" she questioned.

"Didn't want it to be any worse off if I just dumped it somewhere," the masked thief replied crisply. That and he wanted to at least find out the man's name. He made it a point to learn the names of people who died when they did this kind of work for Gizmo and died for it. He felt it was the least he could do for them given the circumstances. Gizmo would actually pay for the funeral himself.

He could be sort of nice when he wanted to be after all.

"Ah, I see. You are doing so for the human burial ceremony yes?" the Tamaranean powerhouse guessed. Naruto nodded his head in confirmation. "On my planet we do not have such ceremonies. The bodies of our fallen are offered to the flame. We honor them with the memory of their deeds," the girl explained. Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Weird, my people have a similar tradition," he admitted. Well at least the Shinobi and Samurai portion of his people did, Civilians buried their bodies. Briefly he wondered if it was some kind of overlap from them both having a warrior dominated culture. He paused his thoughts to swerve out of the way of another drone. _'Think on that later, focus now!'_ he thought to himself.

Starfire braced herself as they swerved then breathed a sigh as they passed the drone. She then paused and looked at Naruto in surprise. "Do your people really have a similar tradition?" she questioned curiously. Honestly she'd thought most humans had the same traditions for the most part. Naruto nodded his head then narrowed his eyes on the Steel Clan Bikes as they approached.

"We'll talk later," he replied. She nodded her head in agreement and he narrowed his eyes. "Strap in and hang on, Cutie," he ordered. Starfire looked at him strangely for a moment and then tapped the side of her head.

"You are meaning the seat belt yes?" she questioned. He nodded his head. The red head smiled and did as bade. Though she was forced to shift the body of the driver into an upright position to do so. She then watched as Naruto drove straight for the two Steel Clan Bikers. "Are you going to be avoiding them?" she questioned. The masked man shook his head in response. He then frowned in thought.

"Cutie, be sure to take out any drones they fire at us," he ordered. Starfire nodded her head and formed a starbolt into her hand. She then leaned towards the missing passengers side door. Naruto focused on driving the truck. Her eyes narrowed as he saw one of the Steel Clan bikers fired another drone at them. Starfire quickly hurled a starbolt at the drone and they continued forward without pause.

Inside the cab, Naruto clenched his hands over the steering wheel as they approached the Steel Clan bikers. The bikers drove forward without pause and the blond mentally chuckled. Until their bikes somehow unfolded a cannon from their front anyways. Naruto blinked after a moment of shock and then scowled deeply.

"Oh that is such a cheap Batman move!" he complained loudly. He then swerved out of the way as the bikers opened fire on him. The blasts flew behind the truck and detonated behind them. The explosions caught Starfire's attention and she turned to the Steel Clan bikes with a frown.

However she yelped as the truck was turned off of the road and into a partial spin. The masked thief grit his teeth as he held onto the wheel and tried to straighten them out. Dust was kicked up before he finally managed to turn them back on course. As he did Starfire blew a breath into her bangs and glared at the masked man.

"I am very much not liking the way you are driving!" she declared as she gripped the side of her seat. Naruto just shot a look at the girl.

"Do you want to drive?" he demanded. The alien blinked and looked at him strangely.

"I am not knowing how one drives the motor vehicles," she replied honestly. The blond nodded his head and smirked.

"Then don't try to tell _**me**_ how to drive," he responded. He then turned them to the side to get back onto the main road and glanced into the side view mirror. "Shit they're still on our fucking tail," he grumbled darkly. He formed several X-Shuriken into his left hand and tossed them out of the door to the ground. The shuriken would make for descent caltrops if nothing else.

' _Not like I have any actual caltrops on me,'_ he added to himself. To be fair though, it wasn't like there were a lot of situations where he really needed caltrops. He watched one of the bikers run over a few of the shuriken and flip forward. The blond watched with a grin as the cyborg was taken out. "Ha! That's right, take that you jackass!" he crowed gleefully. Starfire looked at him confused.

"What happened?" she questioned. The masked blond merely smirked in response.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Cutie," he replied. He then stepped on the gas pedal to hurry passed the next Biker. "See if you can get that last idiot off our tail," the thief ordered. The tamaranean powerhouse nodded and turned to look out of her missing door. She spotted the final Biker behind them and focused on a feeling of 'Righteous Fury'. She needed only glance at the dead driver to feel it to its fullest.

The girl let loose a volley of Starbolts with a roar. The spheres of bright green light flew true, but the biker quickly ducked and swerved to the side to avoid them. The blasts of green energy exploded upon impact with the ground and kicked up a substantial amount of dust behind them. Naruto whistled lowly and glanced at the girl. She had a frown as she narrowed her glowing green eyes dangerously.

Naruto idly glanced to the view on his side and then leaned back. He raised his arm and bent it back slightly to point it out towards the Biker. A thermal blaster folded out of his left bracelet and he fired it at the Steel Clan Biker. The biker avoided the blast and moved back into Starfire's field of view. Naruto nearly swerved to the side again but quickly took hold of the wheel once more.

"All yours cutie," he offered. The alien powerhouse nodded her head and focused on the biker once more. She formed another volley of Starbolts into her hand and fired at the biker. However much like before he shifted to the other side. "I didn't know those things could explode like that," Naruto admitted. He also fired at the Biker once more to get him back into the alien girl's sights.

Starfire blew a breath into her bangs and concentrated on the Steel Clan Biker intently. She quickly fired a volley only for him to move out of the way once more. With a slight pout she leaned back slightly. The stubborn fool was making things harder by constantly moving out of the way.

"It is only when I am feeling particularly furious that they do," the alien powerhouse replied crisply. The masked thief stowed that away for later and turned his attention back to the road. However he also noted that the Steel Clan Biker was now dead center behind them. _'That's not going to be fun,'_ he decided with a frown. Starfire mentally agreed, though she didn't know it, then had a sudden thought.

"I am having a better idea," she declared. With that she unbuckled herself from her seat and leaped out and into the air. Naruto turned to her in time to see the bottom of her boots as she shot into the air above them. She spotted the Steel Clan Biker as he fired yet another drone at the back of the truck and frowned. She formed another starbolt into her hand and tossed it at the drone, which sent it flying off of the truck.

She then lunged at the biker and ripped him off of the bike, before she punched him to the side. The man bounced a few times before he suddenly stopped and the redhead nodded her head. With that she tuned and shot back to the truck and slipped back inside the cab with a soft exhale. She looked to Naruto and smiled at her companion brightly.

"The Steel Clan person has been dealt with," she declared with a nod. Naruto didn't comment, but exhaled a sigh. _'At least now I can calm down,'_ he thought as he slowed down the truck. The ride from there would hopefully be calmer. No more Steel Clan, no more of their drones. Naruto just wanted to get this done, then probably chew out Starfire for stupidly following him into the unknown.

"Red-X you mentioned your people burn the bodies of their deceased earlier," Starfire noted. Naruto glanced at her and gave a stiff nod. "Please, where is it from which you hail?" she questioned curiously. Naruto merely glanced at her and turned back to the road. "I am merely curious because I was certain few places on earth would be so similar to my home worlds traditions," she admitted. Naruto allowed a chuckle to pass his lips.

"To be honest Cutie, my home isn't even on earth," he admitted. Starfire looked surprised, then grinned widely.

"Truly?" she queried excitedly. Naruto blinked and then nodded his head. "Oh this is most glorious!" she declared joyously. Naruto honestly wondered what was so special about it and then recalled the time she was from. _'Aliens_ _ **were**_ _pretty rare on earth back then,'_ he admitted to himself. In the twenty years since she'd vanished, aliens had started to pop up more often. Not enough to be 'common' but still more than they used too.

"Please, what are your people like?" the bubbly alien questioned. Naruto blinked and idly reached up to rub the back of his neck. Did he really want to explain his people? _'Can't hurt,'_ he admitted. It was far from a damning fact that he wasn't technically human. Though back in her time it might be a bit of a problem. Wait… no it wouldn't. Robin couldn't really use that information to catch him.

He looked so human that it'd be like finding a needle in a haystack…

With that decided he took a moment to reflect and consider his options. He could tell her or not tell her, but honestly he didn't see any reason not too. So he wondered briefly how he should explain the people of his world to the alien powerhouse. He considered a few things, dismissed others, and then nodded his head when he made his decision.

"My people are known as 'Ningen' by the few other sentient species on my world, we're mostly warriors with a feudal system of rule. We have many nations ruled by Daimyo, or 'lords', with no single king or emperor over them. My people have basically been at war with one another for centuries before we finally established peace about twenty one years ago," he began. He then glanced at Starfire to see a grin on her face.

"How different are you from a human?" she questioned curiously. Naruto hummed for a moment and frowned in thought.

"Stronger, faster, more agile, and vaguely like Meta's off the top of my head," he began, "Some of us also have more 'alien' features like sharp claws or fangs, a few have blue skin and gills, or other unusual features. I mean my first crush actually had natural pink hair," he admitted with a shake of his head. Thankfully that hadn't gone anywhere. He liked Sakura as a friend or maybe even as a sister, but couldn't see her as anything more.

Starfire hummed and then looked at him with her head tilted to the side. If Naruto didn't already think she was cute, this would've cemented the fact she was adorable. Which she was, until she was angry, at which point she was 'cute'. If he'd been twenty years younger he'd have made a pass at her by now. _'I have the sudden feeling my past self will be flirting with her a lot,'_ the blond realized and snickered to himself.

"So what do you look like?" Starfire questioned curiously. Naruto chuckled and lightly shook his head.

"Cutie, if I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" he quipped in response. The tamaranean pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. The masked blond turned from the girl as they approached Gizmo's research facility. He quickly slowed to a stop within the building and several scientists approached alongside armored guards. The masked thief frowned as they came to a stop.

"Is something the matter?" Starfire questioned. Naruto idly glanced at her and then narrowed his eyes. 

"Maybe," he replied. He then parked the truck and stepped out. He turned back to pull the driver's corpse with him. Starfire stepped out with him and watched as he carried the body to a pair of men in sturdy green armor. As he did another man in the same armor, likely a guard, as well as a man in a lab coat, likely a scientist, approached them.

"We have a problem," the guard stated. Naruto crossed his arms.

"What happened?" he questioned. Rather than answer directly the Guard looked to the Scientist. The man sighed and then turned around and lowered his collar to show the back of his neck. X paused and then widened his eyes when he saw an odd pattern there. It was a pattern he was very familiar with… "Did you shut off the computers?" he questioned. The guard nodded his head.

"It's standard procedure in case she shows up," he admitted. Naruto nodded his head. He'd helped come up with the protocol after all. Well it had mostly been Gizmo with a little help from Oracle and Red-Arrow, but that was semantics in his opinion.

"Has she left?" he questioned. The guard shook his head in response and Naruto grunted. "Right of course she hasn't," he muttered and then turned to Starfire. On any other occasion he'd tell her to stay out of this, but he could honestly see some ways the girl would be useful. That decided he clicked his tongue and tilted his head. "You still want to help?" he questioned. She arched a brow in response.

"Why?" she questioned.

"Because we have an intruder," he replied and narrowed his eyes, "somewhere in this building is Cypher zero point three," he stated ominously…

00

(Present day…)

"You actually had an encounter with Cypher?" Raven questioned with wide eyes. She didn't care much that Red-X was apparently not from earth. That barely bothered her seeing as she technically wasn't from earth herself. Hell neither was Superman and a surprising number of heroes and villains.

"Unfortunately," the alien powerhouse responded softly. She then frowned to herself. "Though how is it you are aware of the 'Cypher' when I had not yet heard of her," she questioned curiously. Raven stowed the 'her' away for later consideration.

"I heard about Cypher when Robin was upgrading some of Cyborg's security protocols after the first 'X' incident. Apparently the X-suit used several of Cypher's hacking keys to quickly break into Cyborg's systems. Robin upgraded his security protocols to prevent it from happening again. He also kind of explained what Cypher was like outside of hacking and it wasn't pleasant," the girl admitted with a shudder.

Metal cords that could literally plug into your central nervous system and use you like some kind of macabre meat puppet was just creepy as all hell in any form or context. She had never met, seen, or even thought about Cypher since she heard of him from Robin, mostly because it had given her nightmares. At least the Puppet King didn't leave you inside your body, aware but unable to act, when he controlled you…

Raven paused her thoughts when she noticed a strange expression cross Starfire's face. It was one she'd never seen before when Robin was mentioned. It looked to her like the girl was genuinely annoyed with the boy wonder. She also started to mutter to herself in Tamaranean. Raven cursed internally for not knowing Tamaranean herself. She'd lived with Starfire more than long enough to learn after all.

Thankfully the look passed soon after, though her smile now appeared somewhat forced. _'Something happened in the future,'_ Raven assumed. _'Whatever it was had something to do with Robin, and apparently not talking to her… or others… or maybe just not telling us stuff in general,'_ the girl mused. Which would make the most amount of sense where Robin was concerned, if she were honest. He was absurdly paranoid after all.

"In any case I should continue," Starfire began, "The Red-X was quick to hurry into the facility in search of the Cypher," she began. Raven listened intently. Now she was curious as to what else had happened in the future to cause that look. She wondered if maybe Starfire really had met an older Robin, but clearly not one who was as nice as the 'Nightwing' of her original story had been…

Nearby a certain blond frowned to himself as he listened. He knew of Cypher as well and he could already tell he wasn't going to like the new one if it had started to target him. He was a Shinobi and knew very little about cyber warfare and how to stop hackers. The fact of the matter was that he could deal with a physical fight, barring the extreme, but cyber-warfare was not his strong suit in the least…

00

(20 years in the future…)

X wasted no time in his mad dash into the facility. Starfire found it odd, but had enough presence of mind to follow. She was confused; startled by how swiftly the man went into action, but she knew something was wrong. Until now Red-X had seemed unconcerned about the threats they faced. Clearly something about this 'Cypher' was different. The alien powerhouse was curious, but didn't wish to break the man's focus.

They moved through the facility swiftly, X checked in every room they passed and every dark corner. It was almost as if he'd become paranoid in his thoroughness. He literally left no corner of the building unturned as they checked the first floor. Starfire waited for a chance to speak with him, but as they moved onto the second floor she began to realize that she would find no chance unless she actively spoke to him.

That in mind…

She shot ahead of the thief as they entered into another room on the second floor. He paused and looked at her strangely. She crossed her arms and frowned. "Who is this 'Cypher' person and why are you so concerned?" she questioned. The masked thief glanced behind her and then raised his hand to form a familiar holo-light. He checked the darkness and shadows around them then noticed her look.

"The original was named Avery Twomeby, he was a corporate spy and mercenary," the masked man began. Starfire made an 'oh' with her mouth.

"Like you," she guessed. X glanced at her and then chuckled nervously. He was a mercenary after all, and he had done some questionable espionage for Gizmo…

"Yeah… pretty much," he admitted, "But unlike me Avery had a 'hypnotic' personality," the man continued. He moved on to the next room as he did with Starfire on his heels. "He'd often used his precise voice to hypnotize others for information or to commit suicide. Until Batman took him down that is," he remarked. He paused at the next room to check the shadows and then internally frowned.

"I hear that while he was in prison he tried to break out with a small cadre of other villains and ended up getting shot," he explained. "Fortunately for him, it was a guard that came to collect him and he managed to hypnotize him and be declared dead. So he escaped and had his body 'upgraded' into Cypher zero point two," the masked thief stated and narrowed his eyes.

"At that point he became a full time assassin," he remarked and continued to the next room. "He had these cords on his wrists he could use to control people like some kind of macabre meat puppets," he noted with a shudder. He'd never experienced that, but he could imagine how eerie that kind of feeling was. "Eventually he got his systems updated and started to steal information with hacking keys," he finished and sighed.

"The new Cypher's also a cyborg," he began and turned with a flourish. Starfire followed behind as they continued to systematically move through the second floor. "She's also a cyber-criminal," he continued as they came to a computer room. X paused to check every computer for anything out of place and then turned back to the girl. "She's the latest model of 'Cypher' and she's supposed to be better," he remarked.

"Is she?" Starfire queried.

"Definitely," X admitted. "They increased her strength, speed, and reflexes to well beyond human limits, then they updated her hacking keys and software, and finally they added in her ability to create Ghost Programs," he explained. He paused once more as they entered into a large room with a number of devices and used his light to check around. He noticed a vent cover had been pried open and swore.

"I fucking told Gizmo those vents were too big!" he snarled. He hurried to the vent and then looked inside before he formed a holographic map over his hand and searched the vents. "No way outside," he muttered and then noticed one path she could take, "Dammit she's in the basement," he grumbled. The thief stormed passed Starfire who followed after him as he made his way to the stairs.

She kept pace with the thief as he hurried down the stairs and frowned deeply as she did. "You mentioned the 'Ghost Programs'," she noted, "but I confess I have no knowledge of such things," she admitted. X nodded his head as they passed the first floor into the basement level of the building.

"Not surprised," he admitted, "her programs basically give her autonomous control of anything she's infected with them. This can range from machines to people if needed," he explained. Starfire's eyes widened in shock and she stared at him. He ignored the look as they walked to a door and he pushed it open slowly. As he did Starfire shook her head and wrung her hands together.

"How can she use programs on people?" she questioned. X glanced at her and then turned back to the next room. He raised his hand and formed his holo-light once more to check around. Once he saw the hallway was clear he turned back to Starfire.

"She leaves a temporary electrical imprint in the central nervous system," he responded. He then pushed the door open and walked into the hallway. "I'd wager that scientist we saw up top had one implanted in his head that made him let her into the facility," the masked thief admitted. It was the one major security breach they really couldn't account for, as Cypher's ghost programs didn't register on any kind of scanner.

"Will he be alright?" Starfire asked worriedly. X nodded his head.

"Aside from some minor disorientation most of her victims are relatively fine," he replied, "physically anyways," he amended after a moment. He then paused to check a room to the side. He searched it swiftly and then moved on. "The emotional trauma is sometimes more of a strain than the physical damage," he explained. Starfire inclined her head in understanding.

She more than understood the sentiment…

"Watch it!" X hissed and pulled the girl to the side. As he did a metallic tentacle lashed at the now open air then withdrew into a nearby room. Starfire released a breath she hadn't realized she'd held then looked at him shakily.

"W-what was that?" she demanded. X frowned in response and slowly approached the door to the room.

"Cypher's 'cords' got an upgrade to 'tentacles' in the latest iteration," he explained. He then pushed the door open and looked inside, only to grunt. "They are thicker, stronger, and unfortunately able to move on their own," he replied with a motion into the room. "Stay back," he ordered. Starfire looked at him in confusion.

"But I," she tried to say only for him to interrupt.

"The Tentacles lock onto body heat cutie, my suit hides mine so it can only lock onto you," he stated. The girl nodded in understanding while X stepped forward. He opened the door to the room and glanced inside to see Cypher's tentacle on the ground, attached to a black / neon-green stand of some kind. _'She set a trap,'_ the masked blond noted to himself as he unlocked his thermal blaster on his right bracelet.

He fired on the tentacle and fried it instantly, then collapsed his blaster and checked around the room with his holo-light. Once he was sure that there were no more of the tentacles he waved Starfire inside. She approached carefully and watched as X explored, then focused on the destroyed tentacle with a frown.

"I would assume this is useful for the 'ghost programs' yes?" Starfire guessed. The masked thief turned to her and nodded his head.

"Yeah," he replied then sighed, "well we know she's down here," the thief remarked. Starfire idly inclined her head then watched as X held up his holo-light and looked around. As he did the redhead followed with her starbolts to aide him in looking in the dark corners of the room.

"You are very thorough," she noted and he hummed.

"Cypher isn't a physical fighter despite her strength," X replied, "she prefers hit and run tactics, controlling others to fight for her, or outright hides in dark corners before leaping at you from behind. Her body is also nigh silent so you can't hear her coming," he explained. Starfire shivered in response and then looked around warily.

"I am not liking this villain more and more," she remarked. X looked at her sharply.

"She's not a villain," he stated quietly. Starfire glanced at him in surprise while he stood up and brushed his coat off. "Next is the server room," he murmured. He gestured for Starfire to follow as he approached the last room in the basement. As he did he checked his suits systems. He really didn't want to find she'd somehow slipped more ghost programs in when he wasn't looking.

' _Clean so far,'_ he noted to himself. He turned to Starfire and held a hand back for her to stop as they approached the door to the server room. He then palmed the door open slowly and glanced inside. He narrowed his eyes and then raised his hand to reform his holo-light to check around. The room was cold and dark; he idly noticed mist form in front of his face as he breathed.

' _This would be so much easier if Cypher had chakra or even body heat for me to track,'_ the masked thief grumbled internally. The Server room was kept cooled to prevent the servers from overheating when used. As such anyone inside the room would stick out like a sore thumb when he used his thermal-vision setting. Unfortunately, Cypher's design had neutralized any kind of body heat to prevent tracking her that way.

' _There is a reason why she's an annoying enemy, even if I do feel sorry for her,'_ the thief admitted to himself. Then again it was hard not to feel sorry for the poor thing considering what was done to her…

"Red-X," Starfire cried, "I saw something move!" X turned sharply and raised his light. He saw a tentacle on the ground, motionless, but narrowed his eyes. _'She set another trap,'_ he thought to himself. _'Which means,'_ he widened his eyes and pulled Starfire to the ground. The girl let out a grunt then looked up and widened her eyes. She saw another tentacle snap where she had been a moment before.

Starfire and X both leaped to the either side as the tentacle lashed at them again. Both looked to its source to see Cypher 0.3 had been pressed onto the ceiling. The 'cyborg' twisted its head around to look at them, and then dropped down to land on all fours. Starfire looked in shock as a tall dark form stood up, towering over her at a solid 6'6" and with tentacles stationed at her wrists.

She was primarily dark green and black with neon green highlights across her sleek armored form, her 'eyes' appeared to be four glowing green lights on her head with odd 'tear lights' down to her chin, she had digitigrade legs, with three sharp talons for toes and fingers, her head had long cords at the back that hung like bunched up dreadlocks, her body was feminine with a slight curve to her chest, thin waist, and wide hips.

Cypher twitched and then ducked low to the ground as X lunged at her. The thief soared over her and came out in a roll and tossed a few shuriken at her. Cypher caught the shuriken with her tentacles only for them to beep then explode and send her flying back into the darkness. Starfire shook her head and formed a starbolt in hand to light the dark and looked for the metal woman.

Starfire looked all around the room. She turned her starbolt to any shadows she could see while X formed his Holo-Light to do the same. X swiftly began to search the room, moving all around the servers while Starfire flew into the air. She brightened her starbolt so the light would cover more of the room. Yet even then she didn't see any sign of the machine woman.

"The Cypher is very good at hiding," she murmured quietly. She then saw something move in the darkness and hurled her starbolt with a yelp. The room darkened and X's light turned to her.

"Cutie, you okay over there?" the thief questioned. Starfire calmed herself and took a deep breath.

"I am fine," she replied after a moment. "Forgive me, I was merely startled by the moving shadows," she admitted. She then let her eyes adjust to the darkness and looked around. There was still no visible sign of Cypher that she could see.

"Keep on alert, Cypher is a master of stealth," the masked thief ordered. Starfire nodded her head and reformed her Starbolt in her hand. She raised her hand to look around for the mechanical woman. As she did she noticed a light behind her. "Cutie behind you!" she heard X cry out a moment too late as something attached to the base of her skull and metal clamps locked around her neck.

Her eyes widened and she heard a scream as an electric shock went through her body.

But it wasn't her own scream she heard…

00

Her vision darkened and turned a greenish tinge. She saw a large room, pale and white with bright lights overhead. A man was beside her, light reflected off of his glasses as he pulled on rubber gloves. A woman to the other side held out what resembled a bone saw which the man in glasses took. Meanwhile final man stared at her from the shadows in the back; his eyes seemed to give off a horrible crimson glow.

ERROR

… **NEURAL CONTROL INITIATED** …

ERROR

… _I'M SO SORRY_ …

ERROR

… **WHY WONT THEY WORK** …

ERROR

… _PLEASE FORGIVE ME_ …

ERROR

Starfire's couldn't see. She couldn't feel. She couldn't breath. She couldn't hear. All was dark. All was quiet. As if trapped deep beneath the water. Then suddenly, light. She saw a world cloaked in shades of green. Binary code trailed all over and she noticed a mirror. In that mirror, she saw not herself, but instead Cypher 0.3. The machine raised a hand to its head, then shattered the mirror…

ERROR

… **I HAVE TO OBEY** …

ERROR

… _ALL I KNOW IS PAIN_ …

ERROR

… **OBEDIENCE OR PAIN** …

ERROR

… _THEY MADE ME DO IT_ …

ERROR

Her sight was dark once more. Until light came once more, a world still cloaked in green and covered in binary. She saw a man in the shadows, his eyes glowed red, his voice echoed in her mind like a booming drum. He ordered her to walk. She refused. He placed his hand on a button and her world was consumed in pain. He ordered her to walk. She refused. Once more, pain consumed her. He ordered her to kneel… she obeyed…

ERROR

… **DAMAGE TO LEFT LIMB INCURRED** …

ERROR

… _IT HURTS_ …

ERROR

… **MAKE IT STOP** …

ERROR

… _PLEASE… SOMEONE_ …

ERROR

Her vision was blissfully dark once more. But then light and sights and sounds assaulted her mind. Thousands of sights all assaulted her from every angle all at once. Thousands of hands were raised before her millions of eyes. She felt her mind try to tear itself apart. It was too much, but she couldn't close them off, the visions wouldn't stop. She screamed yet no voice came out… only silence… always silence…

ERROR

… **LET ME GO** …

ERROR

… _SET ME FREE_ …

ERROR

… **DISENGAGING NEURAL CONTROL** …

ERROR

… _GOODBYE_ …

00

Starfire opened her eyes with a gasp. She heaved for a moment and then realized she was on her hands and knees. _'W-what ha-happened?'_ she wondered to herself. She blinked her eyes open and closed, the screaming in her head abated and she saw X kick Cypher back. He glanced at her and then turned back to the machine woman. She seemed worse for ware, one arm hung limply at her side.

Cypher sent her remaining arm forward, her tentacle shot out like a dark and smacked into X's mask. He stumbled back and then chuckled as the tentacle tried to latch onto the back of his neck. There was a metallic 'chink' sound as the diamond shaped white plates on his spine prevented her from breaching the suit. The masked thief then grabbed her tentacle with a wicked grin beneath his mask.

"One of the best parts about my suit is that it also doubles as body armor," he remarked mockingly. "So it looks like you're out of tricks and out of luck," he remarked coldly as he yanked on the tentacle. As he did Cypher stumbled forward and the blond formed a tiny ball of violet light in his hand. A moment later a thin ring formed around the ball of light and X shoved it into her midriff.

" _ **Mini Rasenringu! (Mini Spiraling Fear Wheel!)"**_ the thief cried as the ball connected. It hurled Cypher up towards the ceiling before it suddenly expanded outwards into a large sphere. The sphere ripped and tore into and through Cypher until only her head and a few scattered parts remained. X reached out to catch Cypher's head and then tossed it up and caught it in his hands with a chuckle.

' _Kami, it took forever to figure out how Menma did that but it's so fucking worth it!'_ the masked thief thought to himself. He didn't use Jutsu as much as he used too of course, barring the basic Kawarimi or even the Shunshin. He was paid not to cause damage to the city, so it just made sense not to use jutsu that would cause lots of damage. Unfortunately the number of jutsu he had that didn't cause mass destruction was limited.

He shook such thoughts off as he looked at the head with a smirk. "I knew she couldn't use a Tamaranean's powers," he noted with a shake of his head. A tamaraneans powers were emotion based after all. He then walked to Starfire and removed his coat. He placed it around the girl and patted her shoulder. "Take it easy cutie, you're going to be fine, just remember to calm down and take deep steady breaths," he told her softly.

He then looked to the head in his hand and turned it around to pry open a panel on the back loose. As he did Starfire stumbled and then pawed at a server to brace herself. She grasped the lapel of the coat with one hand and braced herself with the other. She blinked and shook her head, stars dancing in her vision. She slowly climbed back to her feet and stared at the masked man.

"W-what happened?" Starfire questioned. X glanced at her and shook his head.

"Cutie I told you to take it easy," he stated. However the alien powerhouse just groaned and held her head in her hands. The visions flashed in her mind, the screaming echoed in her ears. Slowly she stood on shaky legs, and then approached the thief from behind. As she did she tried to calm her frazzled nerves while the thief yanked something out of the remains of Cypher's head.

"Wh-what did you d-do to her?" she demanded, though the weakness of her voice made it hard to tell. X arched a brow and inclined his head to the side.

"I stopped her of course," he replied with a shrug. He then glanced down at the disembodied head and snapped his fingers. "Oh right, you probably don't know that part," he admitted to himself. _'Way to drop the ball genius,'_ he thought grumpily. "You don't have to worry cutie, that wasn't Cypher's actual body. It's just a mobile platform she uses. She has like a hundred more of them," he explained casually.

However Starfire stared at the machine woman's head. Her mind flashed to one of the many visions, particularly the 'thousands of hands' one she'd seen and it suddenly made more sense. Still, one thing stood out above it all. "Sh-she was screaming," she whispered. If X heard her he didn't respond, instead he raised his hand to his earpiece and pressed down on a button. He waited for a moment until a link was established and chuckled.

"Giz its me," he stated and stood up, "Yeah I got your truck to the place safely," he stated as he started to look around, "no I didn't know the mayor was calling but I do have an idea on why," he admitted with a grimace. _'Cutie really screwed me over on the road earlier,'_ he thought with a shake of his head. "Anyways listen Giz we had a break in down here," he explained and then paused, only to sigh.

"No everything's fine now I took care of it," he assured his friend. "Anyways, I actually got one of Cypher's memory chits out of it," the masked thief stated and then smirked. "Yes I'm serious, no it isn't fried this time," he stated with a shake of his head. Really, one time he ends up frying the stupid thing and Gizmo never lets him live it down. He then shook his head and put the device behind his back.

"Right I'm on my way back Giz, see you soon," the thief stated. He then lowered his hand and turned to face Starfire, the girl continued to stare at Cypher's head. He approached the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. She started and then stared at him warily. He arched a brow and sighed. "Cutie," he began and then nodded his head back, "c'mon we're heading back to base," he stated.

However he blinked as Starfire suddenly gripped his wrist and glared at him.

"She was screaming!" the girl roared and tossed the thief by his wrist. As he flew through the air the thief turned and landed into a crouch with narrowed eyes. As he did Starfire breathed heavily and grasped her head. "I could hear her screaming in my mind," she whispered. X mutely rose to his feet. "Sh-she was frightened and in so much pain," the girl whispered while X brushed himself off.

"V-visions in my head," she muttered and shuddered, "s-so horrible," she whispered quietly. "She is n-no villain," the girl murmured, "she is no better than a s-slave," she continued. She then paused and stared at X intently; the man was silent under her scrutiny. "Y-you knew," she stated. X didn't deny her accusation; instead he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Cutie we need to go," he stated urgently. He then stepped to the side as the girl tossed a Starbolt at him.

"D-do not call me that!" she hissed at him. She shakily stepped forward eyes blazing neon green. "F-friends are giving the n-nicknames to one another, b-but you are not being my friend," she stated. She felt her powers flare within her and her strength return as she got up in his face. "My friend would never allow anyone to suffer like this!" she growled at him. X was silent for a moment then exhaled through his nose.

"Look you don't understand, there's more to it than just that," he replied softly. Starfire narrowed her eyes on him.

"Th-then help me to understand," she demanded. X grunted in response then palmed his face.

"Fine," he said after a moment, "I'll make you a deal," he offered. She raised a brow in response. "I'll tell you everything you want to know 'bout Cypher, but only after we get back to base. After you learn everything, you can even decide if you really want to punch my lights out or not," he offered. Starfire frowned in thought for a moment then nodded her head in agreement. "Good, then lets go," he stated.

With that he turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Starfire followed behind him at a slower pace, taking a moment to look to Cypher's disembodied head. She looked at it sadly and then knelt down to pick it up. She whispered to it in Tamaranean then set it down gently. That done she quickly followed after X. But as she did a familiar feminine robot walked out of the shadows and turned to the servers as her optics flared green…

00

(Present Day…)

Starfire sighed as she looked down to her hands in her lap. Raven leaned forward. "So do you know who Cypher was before… all that happened?" the dark bird questioned. Even if she didn't know the full story, no one deserved what had been done to Cypher. Oddly, Starfire smiled in response.

"It has already been taken care of friend," she replied. Raven raised a brow in question and Starfire looked to the side. "It was one of the first things I did upon returning to this time," she admitted. Raven nodded her head. Had she known such a thing was going to happen, she'd have taken preventative steps as well. It was good that at least something good had come from that future.

"So I guess that X made good on his deal," she remarked. Starfire nodded her head and then rubbed at her temples. "So why didn't he help Cypher?" she questioned. Starfire looked to her hands silently then paused and reached for her communicator when it suddenly vibrated. She glanced from it to see Raven also had hers out, though the dark bird had a frown across her lips.

The bubbly alien smiled at Raven and nodded to the communicator.

"Unfortunately it seems that Robin requires our assistance at the tower," she noted. Raven grunted and muttered under her breath. Regardless she stood up and left the mall alongside Starfire. As they did neither of them noticed the blond lift the brim of his hat and watch them leave.

Naruto sat back in his seat with a frown. He was honestly annoyed with the kid at this point. Well sort of. He couldn't hold too much of a grudge considering the girls were a part of his team. However he could be annoyed with his future self. While he admitted he was a lot more 'selfish' nowadays he'd never leave someone to suffer like that. _'He better have a really damn good reason for that,'_ he thought to himself.

If not he'd find some way to get to that future just to punch his own lights out! He shook his head of such thoughts and sighed. He turned his legs to the side to get up from his seat and walked out of the food court and the mall entirely. However he didn't follow the titan girls; instead he made his way back home. Once he got there he walked into his room to change into his suit. As he did he realized he still had Robin's old X-suit.

He grinned to himself. It was time to have some fun with the kids…

00

(?)

A girl blinked purple eyes open and closed. She glanced around a padded room and then yawned. Visions of her dreams and nightmares lingered for a moment before she used a foot to scratch her head. Her deep crimson hair shifted beneath her foot as she ran her toes through her short locks. She yawned once more and then smacked her lips as she tried to stretch out… only to pause and frown at her straitjacket.

"Man I feel like I've been in limbo for years," she remarked. She then paused and blinked. "Oh wow is that my voice? Feels like it sound's different somehow," she remarked and then hummed. "Mister Author Dude, are you there?" she questioned and then crossed her legs. "Hmmm… can't hear 'im," she noted to herself. She then flipped onto her feet and approached her cell door.

She stood on her tiptoes to look outside and grinned widely.

"Oh cool I'm in an asylum again!" she declared and then giggled. "Is it Arkham? I haven't been there for a while," she noted to herself. However as she glanced around she realized it was definitely not Arkham. "Not enough screams and crazed moans to be Arkham, and it's also way too clean to," she noted to herself. She allowed that to really sink in for a moment and then smirked.

"Well it probably won't take much for me to bust my way out of here," she admitted to herself. "So I wonder if I should go ahead and try to pull off my own Arkham Asylum incident or something," she considered. She then glanced down at her foot and frowned when she saw her skin tone. "Aww… I look all boring normal," she remarked and then started to shift in her straitjacket.

"C'mon!" she grumbled and then frowned. "No slack," she mumbled and then grimaced. "This is really going to suck, but if I want out…" she mumbled as she suddenly rammed her left shoulder into the door. She raised her leg to place her foot against her arm and then took a breath. She gave a cry but then pulled her shoulder to the side and let out a low hiss. "Dammit! Do not try this at home!" she grit out and then shook her head.

"Dislocated shoulder, still hurts like a bitch," she grumbled as she used her good arm to shift around in the jacket. She eventually slipped her arm over her head and then started to pull her way free of it. Once free she kicked the jacket away and looked at her limp arm with a frown. "Now comes the worst part," she grumbled as she twisted and jerked her arm back into place.

She twitched for a moment then flexed her fingers and hissed in pain.

"Shit shit shit shit! I hate doing that!" she complained loudly. She then rubbed at her now heavily bruised shoulder before she glanced around her cell. She looked down at herself but she was dressed in a drab white outfit. "So not my style, I mean where's the color man?" she questioned. She then started to pad her way around her cell and checked all the different spots to find something to escape with.

She paused when she heard something from outside. With a grin the girl slipped into the shadows as her door opened. An orderly entered and she grabbed him from the side and quickly started to choke him. _'I'm not going to kill him, just make him pass out from oxygen deprivation,'_ she said to no one in particular as she held the man. Once he was unconscious the girl hummed a tune and started to look through his pockets.

"Keys, keys, keys, keys," she murmured and then flipped a set of keys into the air. "Aha, keys!" she crowed cheerfully and giggled to herself. She then hissed as her left shoulder throbbed painfully. "Argh, never doing that again… unless I really really have too," she remarked with a frown. Although given her luck, or lack there of, it was almost assured that she was going to have to do it again someday.

She shook her head of those thoughts and peered into the hall outside her cell. She glanced to either side and grinned widely. She slipped out into the hall then closed her door so no one noticed it. She 'snuck' her way down the hall in a decidedly animated fashion. She leaned her back against the wall as she approached the end of the hall and glanced down the next hall. She saw a doctor walk by and narrowed her eyes.

"It's like daddy always says, you wanna make an omelet sometimes you need to break a few eggheads," she remarked with a snort. She then paused and frowned. "Wait… does he actually say that?" she wondered to herself. She shrugged her shoulders a moment later. "Meh whatevs, I'll figure that out later," she decided. With that she hurried out into the hall and down towards the first room she could find.

She entered an orderly station and frowned. _'Where's all my stuff?'_ she wondered to herself. She swiftly started to search through the room, checking every nook and cranny for anything useful. She soon stopped with a pout and crossed her arms over her chest. "Dammit, nothing!" she complained. She swiftly made her way to the door and peered outside again, then glanced around and left.

She soon looked into another room and grinned when she saw a number of items. "Ooh this has to be it!" she declared. She hurried into the room and started to search through everything she could find. _'That's mine,'_ she thought as she picked up a purple jacket, _'not mine but nice,'_ she thought as she found some green panties, _'mine,'_ she thought as she grabbed a purple pair of pants, _'also mine,'_ she thought as she found some spats.

As she collected her clothes, and some that weren't her clothes, the girl swiftly stripped down and got dressed. She pulled the green panties and an orange corset first, a black choker around her throat and black 'sleeves' over her arms with holes for her thumbs, then she shimmied into the purple pants and slipped on the white spats over the pant legs, she looped a green web-belt with a large pouch around her waist to hang loose on her hips. She finished by slipping her purple jacket on and then stretched her arms above her head.

"Ah that is so much better!" she declared and then giggled to herself. She looked around for a moment then spotted a brown backpack. "Oho! There we go!" she declared and picked the leather backpack up. She reached into the bag while humming a jaunty tune to herself, and then grinned as she pulled out a vial and then grinned. "Hehe this is gonna be so much fun!" she declared as she opened the vial and then downed it in one gulp.

She then tossed the vial to the side and slipped her backpack on. As she did she grunted and her skin burned and then gripped at her stomach. "Oh right, here comes the best part," she recalled as a funny feeling bubbled in her stomach. She then snorted and snickered to herself as the 'funny' feeling started to feel ticklish. She then laughed quietly, only to rear her head back and laugh uproariously a moment later.

As she did her skin started to pale until it became chalk white, her already crimson hair turned bright fire truck red, as did her lips, and her eyes seemed to brighten to a nearly luminescent purple. "Oh yeah baby! Duela is BACK!" she exclaimed with her arms outstretched to her sides. She paused when she heard an alarm suddenly go off and hummed to herself. "Maybe I shouldn't yell out loud before I've escaped," she considered to herself.

"Oh well," she decided with a shrug of her shoulders. With a giggle, the girl brushed her bangs from her eyes and looked to a vent. "That'll do," she decided. She approached the vent and swiftly ripped the cover free. She then leaped up and slipped inside of the vent. She hummed another jaunty tune to herself as she made her way through the vents. She idly paused here and there as she made her way through the vents.

"So I'm back, which is awesome for me, but now I need to do something," she decided and then hummed. "Maybe I really should pull my own asylum thing," she considered. She stopped and tapped her chin with an amused smirk. "There's that old Happy Hands asylum over in Jump," she noted to herself. "I could totally mess with Robin's team if I did that," she remarked and her eyes began to shine brightly.

With a giggle she continued to crawl through the vents. Sure it'd take her a couple of days to reach Jump City. She'd also have to figure out how to lure the Titans to the place. But she had a solid inkling of an idea in her head! Sure it wasn't well thought out but when was anything she did well thought out? _'This is going to be so much fun!'_ she thought with a mad twinkle to her purple eyes…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN:** This chapter was, honestly, the hardest one for me to write thus far, mostly because I could never get that ending scene between Naruto and Star to work right. I eventually had to just wait it out and a few good ideas finally came to me. I mean I even had chapters ahead of this one finished before I finally managed to get this one right!

That said… I still feel like this is probably my weakest chapter, but that's just my own personal opinion on the matter.

Cypher is, partially, based on the Comic Iteration the original, the one from Beware the Batman (0.2), and my own 'OC' version of the character (0.3). This means you'll be seeing a host of villains, not all of which are well known, showing up this time.

In case anyone was wondering the design of the 'future' Gizmo is actually based on the appearance of the original Gizmo from back in the eighties, who is actually this Gizmo's father. No seriously, in the comics the original Gizmo had a son that looked like the one from the cartoon, I guess I just brought it full circle. And yes he did have a bushy red beard and so looked sort of like a dwarf, I thought it was hilarious, and X's joke was based on that fact.

Also, is anyone happy to see Duela's back? I know I am!

Q AND A

 **Linkonpark100: I can assume that you're doing a Naruto/Starfire pairing? Or is it Naruto/Blackfire since there's been quite a lot of mention.** ANSWER: I'm undecided for the moment, just trying to see what might work out really.

 **DarkLord98: Speaking of which, are you going to include Danny Phantom or other superhero shows?** ANSWER: Potentially though for now I'm undecided, there will definitely be a few of the crossovers that appeared in the original anyways.

 **K1N6K0N6: Have you ever considered finding someone to draw a depiction of Red-X's new suit?** ANSWER: I have actually drawn the X-suit as well as Duela and several other characters. I lack a scanner or I'd post them myself.

 **prototype: what made you stop writing for a while? was it burnout or did you just lose interest or something?** ANSWER: My computer died for a while, then work got hectic, then a lot of stuff just seemed to come up… basically life decided that it really just wanted to kick me in the teeth.


	4. Future Tense PT3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 3**_ : _**Future Tense Pt. 3**_ …

00

(Jump City, California…)

Robin had decided that he needed to visit the one person who could confirm whether or not X was using a Xenothium power source. It wasn't likely that X did, but he needed to make sure.

That meant he'd left early and made his way to an observatory on a nearby mountain peak. He had gone in person so he could use a bit of intimidation against the man if he needed too. He entered from the roof and slipped inside. He noticed something concealed by a tarp along with several barrels and crates.

He ignored those as he made his way through the facility. He leaped from his perch onto a nearby balcony and landed in a crouch. He slowly stood up, his cape over his arms, and then quickly stepped back from a laser blast that nearly took his foot off. More shots caused the boy wonder to take cover behind a cluster of barrels. He takes a moment to catch his breath and then is off like a shot.

The shooter fires blasts at the boy wonder from a distance away. The blasts blow several crates and cargo to pieces as the boy wonder avoids them. He then notices that the man is dressed in a biohazard suit and narrows his eyes. He quickly leaped onto a nearby stack of crates and then hurled himself at his attacker. He quickly smacks his weapon, a cattle prod looking thing, to the side and grasps the man by his throat.

He is an old, snaggletoothed, Asian man with goggles and an odd hat in a white biohazard suit and a breathing apparatus plugged into his nose.

"Professor Chang," Robin smirked slightly, "Remember me?" he quipped. The older man blinked behind his goggles and then grinned.

"Ah," he began, "the good little boy who likes dangerous toys," he noted with a giggle. "How could I forget?" he mocked condescendingly. However Robin's smirk slipped away and he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"I need to know if you've worked on a miniature Xenothium Power Core recently?" Robin questioned. Chang blinked and raised a brow.

"You mean another one?" he questioned. He'd made the one that Robin had used in his X-Suit after all. Never really knew what he wanted the core for to be honest. It wasn't his place to ask questions about such things.

"I mean a better one," Robin replied. Chang arched a brow and then hummed.

"No, the Xenothium power core I built for you was not so easy to miniaturize," he began, "let alone to improve upon," he added. Robin growled and pulled Chang close.

"Then you haven't sold a Xenothium power core to anyone recently?" he questioned. Chang scoffed in response.

"How can I sell such things when I haven't had any Xenothium of my own for my experiments!" he replied. Robin arched a brow in response. "Suppliers skipped town moths ago. That stuff, there's no way to get any," he explained. Robin frowned deeply and tossed the older man to the side. Chang got up to his knees looked up to see that the boy wonder had vanished.

The old fellow reached up and rubbed at his neck… he had to wonder if the boy wonder really had to be so rough with him?

00

(Titans Tower…)

It was hours later that he made his way back to Titans Tower. He'd tried to follow up on a few other ideas, but those had been busts as well. To tell the truth though, Chang had been his best lead on figuring out X's power source. When that idea fell through it left the boy wonder with little to go on. X's power source would be a key in figuring out how to take the thief down, if only because it'd help him prepare to fight him.

Robin walked into the tower with a frown; with no leads that meant he'd have to start theorizing. He hated to theorize without anything to go on, it made things messy when he encountered the perp again. If he had some kind of an idea of what he was using as a power source he could work on a plan of attack. If the energy source wasn't dangerous, he'd just try and break the buckle on X's suit so he couldn't use it.

If it were dangerous, he'd have to be a lot more careful and try not to overload the suit.

But to do anything like that required he actually know what he was using to power that suit! He gritted his teeth and growled as he walked into the elevator. He roughly pushed the button for the Ops Center and stood back with his arms crossed. He could think of a few things that X could power his suit with, but most of those were dangerous. Magic could work, but he wasn't sure if you could mix it with Technology.

' _This is going to be difficult,'_ he thought to himself. The elevator stopped with a ding and he silently walked into the Ops Center. He'd need to make a list of possible power sources a suit like that could use. Once he had that he'd have to go out and start looking to see if anything needed to make such a power source was stolen from somewhere nearby in X's 'unique' manner of doing so. If so he'd be able to plan for the next time they encountered the thief. If not he'd have to go back to the drawing board.

However, for the time being it would be better if he and the team got in a little extra practice. Their fight against X had been abysmal to say the very least. They were torn apart and mocked by the thief and it grated on him to know how badly they were beaten. X had torn them apart piece by piece with relatively minimal effort on his part and it annoyed Robin to no end!

He paused his thoughts to look around. He spotted BB and Cy playing a videogame but there was no sign of Starfire. Raven he could dismiss by way of her simply being in her room to read, but Starfire rarely, if ever, wasn't our with her friends. "Where's Starfire?" he questioned. Cyborg paused the game he was playing with BB, which looked to have odd mechanical men fighting each other, and turned to his leader.

"She dragged Raven to the 'Mall of Shopping' a while ago," the titanium teen replied with air quotes. Robin rolled his eyes but smiled fondly all the same. Though a warrior at heart, Starfire was surprisingly affectionate. Even to people who didn't want that kind of affection from her. He was pretty sure that Raven didn't complain too loudly about it, but that she did dislike all the hugging. She wasn't touchy feely after all.

He shook his head of such thoughts and marched over to a console. He quickly hit a switch that would contact Raven and Starfire. It was time for the team to do a little training of their own to prepare for when they next encountered X. Specifically; it was time to work on their teamwork. Normally they did well enough, but that last fight had proved to him that they still had a long way to go.

' _Slade also tore us apart whenever we fought him together,'_ he noted to himself. It was humbling to think that Slade was still on a tier above them, even when he was dead. X was also on a tier above them, but he wouldn't allow that to fly. A mad mastermind with the time, experience, and resources to be that tough was one thing, but a thief who stole everything he needed to be better? He wouldn't stand for that!

Still, he exhaled a breath and made his way to the training room. They'd have to work on a few basics and work their way up to advanced stuff. _'We've got trust down… mostly,'_ he admitted to himself with a sigh. It wasn't the teams' fault either; he and Raven both had trust issues that would always make that part of teamwork difficult at best. But even so he had plans for how they could improve.

' _We should focus on reading each others body language,'_ he decided, _'that way we won't have to verbally communicate mid battle. It'll also increase our response time and if one of us is under mind control we'll recognize the fake,'_ he noted to himself. He was also kind of irritated that he hadn't thought of that sooner. Although to be fair before X showed up they had only one person who could take them all out so easily.

But then again X lived up to that name he'd inherited. X, which Robin chose for reasons aside from simply being similar to that one comic character, was a variable, a wildcard, a random integer, chaos theory made manifest. When X was applied to the equation it would always be chaotic, and most important, it had no set motive. Robin had used X for that reason. That the new X better lived up to it was mere coincidence.

Well to be honest, it was a coincidence that kind of irritated him in its irony.

When he ran around as Red-X he'd had clear-cut goals for the things he stole. He'd had reasons to go for the targets he did. He had been, unfortunately, very predictable given how Slade had found him out so easily. Though Chang likely spilled the beans as well. The new X had no clear goals or motives for his actions outside a perverse amusement in mocking him and his team. He was a true X-Factor in every way possible.

The boy wonder walked into the training room and stood alongside BB and Cy. The two other male titans talked to one another while Robin considered other ways to work on their teamwork. He couldn't think of much aside from learning more about each other but again, he and Raven had secrets they didn't want to spill. He didn't know Raven's secrets, just that she had them, but he respected that.

' _This is going to get annoying,'_ he admitted to himself. He could, sort of, trust the rest of his team with his secrets. But that would mean trusting them with Batman and Batgirl's secrets as well. He didn't talk to his former mentor much and he didn't want to just call and ask if he'd be cool with it if he blew the whistle on their identities. He also had a feeling the answer would be a resolute 'no' if he did ask.

Still, he needed some way to get this team into shape despite that.

' _Wait,'_ he thought as an idea came to mind, _'why not get someone who's already in the loop?'_ he considered. He had friends who did know who he really was and who he had worked with before this incarnation of the Titans. _'Roy, Wally, Donna, maybe Garth if he's available,'_ he considered. Although he and Roy had a somewhat rocky relationship at best, and Garth had been preoccupied with Trident when they met up…

But Wally and Donna were in the clear. His friends hadn't met either of them and him having a previous relation with them wouldn't raise any questions. Speedy and Aqualad were less well known as sidekicks. Kid Flash and Wonder Girl on the other hand were partners to two big name heroes. He could make an excuse that they had met because of their mentors if he even needed to make excuses.

' _I should get in contact with them later,'_ he decided. It'd also level the playing field against X. X might be able to teleport, but a Speedster would have little trouble with that. X was skilled, but he was also a brawler, Donna was a trained Amazonian warrior and she would definitely be superior in terms of sheer strength and with swords. With the two of them on the team X, and most other villains, would be easily taken down.

He looked up a moment later as Starfire and Raven entered into the training room, dressed in their usual 'uniforms'. Although why no one just called them 'costumes' when that was all they were he'd never know. He wore body armor, the red vest he wore was lined with Kevlar, his belt had a plethora of weapons and gadgets, he had a cape, sure, but how many capes could deflect bullets? In short, he did not wear a costume.

Now as for the others… Beast Boy, from what he could tell, wore spandex or something similar. Cyborg, due to his unique prosthetics, wore nothing. Starfire's clothes could pass as civies, albeit made of alien fibers, sans her sparse bits of armor anyways. As for Raven, well… he'd never met any monks that dressed quite like the dark bird, that's for sure. In short, most of his team wore costumes, at least in his opinion they did.

He paused his thoughts as he noticed the looks from his team.

"Alright team," he began only to pause. The doorbell had just rung. The others seemed momentarily confused by the sound.

"We have a doorbell?" Beast Boy questioned. Cyborg silently nodded his head with a frown across his lips. To be honest he'd all but forgotten they even had one. No one outside of the team really came to Titans Tower for the most part. So honestly the doorbell had been a silly addition but a practical one for the sake of pizza delivery… until you factored in how long a delivery would take to get across the bay.

It was easier to just go to the pizza place in the long run.

"Uh… I'll be right back," Robin stated off guard. He walked out of the training room, however the rest of the team followed. Clearly they were curious about who would come to the tower and ring the doorbell none of them had ever noticed. The leader idly glanced back at them and sighed tiredly. He didn't tell them to go back however as he walked to the front door of the tower.

The massive entryway featured a long red carpet and chairs to either side. Robin thought it was all a little over done but Cyborg had been the one to design the tower for the most part. Robin had wanted something subtler than a giant T in the middle of the bay. But this was technically Cyborg's hometown so he got to call the shots on that front. BB, Star, and even Raven hadn't offered much input on the design outside of their own rooms…

Still, the massive double doors were equally pointless. While they were large and certainly imposing they saw so little use that they barely thought about them. They entered and exited the tower, mostly, from the underground tunnel in the T-Car, or with the R-Cycle in Robin's case. This meant that the Front Door could've been painted on and no one would really notice the difference.

In fact, Robin could quite easily count the times they had actually used the front door. Most of the time it was only for mail call or when they wanted to go and practice in the training course they had on the island. The only other times he could think of were in the early days when they hadn't had the T-Car or when they had still thought the front door actually had use… well… times had changed.

Robin opened the doors and looked around. No one was there, but as he looked down he felt a frown tug at his lips. A box was laid on the front stoop with a note on the front of it. Robin knelt down and picked up the message, then flipped it open. His frown quickly transformed into a scowl as he read the message.

00

Dear Kid, or Cutie, or Green Bean, or Stone-Head, or Hoody

I figured I'd return this since I have a much better suit and don't need it for anything anymore other than collecting dust in some out of the way corner of my pad.

XOXOXO for the Cutie,

Better luck next time for the rest of you, X

00

Robin growled low in his throat as he balled up the note and tossed it over his shoulder. He ignored Raven as she caught and un-crumpled it behind him while he ripped the box open to find, unsurprisingly, the X-Suit inside. His X-Suit, the original that is, with the belt and everything else still in their proper places. Robin pulled the suit out and quickly started to look for any hidden surprises that the thief might have left on it.

But he found nothing.

No bombs, no bugs, no cameras, nothing at all was out of place. Robin's eye twitched as he realized that X was just further mocking him. Not only was he returning the X-Suit he was saying it was worthless, and by proxy, that Robin was of little threat to him. The leader of the Teen-Titans growled darkly as he gripped the suit tight in his hands. If he had wanted too, he might've even started to rip the suit apart from pure annoyance…

"Well it seems like X has a funny sense of humor," Raven commented dryly. "Hoody, that seems rather uninspired as far as nicknames go," she further remarked. She also had a feeling Starfire was right about X; his nicknames really were the first thing that popped into his head. Cyborg chuckled only to frown as he looked at the name X had given him. He idly raised a hand to his chin and rubbed it with a thoughtful expression.

"Stone Head, why does that seem so familiar," the titanium teen murmured. Beast Boy ignored his friend as he looked at the note.

"Dude, Green Bean, why green bean?" he demanded. Cyborg made a gesture towards the teen and he frowned. "Dude, you just gestured to all of me," he remarked. His friends looked at him blandly and he chuckled as he finally realized what they meant. "Oh right," he tittered softly. Starfire however looked at the note strangely and tilted her head.

"What do the X's and O's mean?" she questioned. Raven sighed and then turned to her bubbly friend.

"Hugs and kisses," she responded. Starfire made an Oh with her mouth and then rolled her eyes. Considering how he had flirted with her the night before, that wasn't terribly surprising. It was clear that the younger X was at least physically attracted to her if nothing else. The older X hadn't seemed to be, but he had been old enough to be her father, so she really shouldn't think of them in the same way.

Though given that they were technically the same person, it was kind of hard to differentiate them at times.

"Please tell me you got him on camera!" Robin growled at Cyborg. The titanium teen blinked and looked around.

"With what camera?" he questioned. Robin stared at his friend incredulously and felt his eye twitch violently. "Dude, this is the front door, I mean seriously who actually comes to our front door?" his friend demanded, "No seriously, no one uses this door to the point I almost forgot we even had it," he admitted with a scratch of his head. Robin grunted in annoyance, but grudgingly admitted to himself that Cyborg had a point. He crossed his arms and scowled deeply.

"Put in a new camera to monitor this door then," he stated, "If X is even half as brazen as I think he is this will become a thing he does a lot," he muttered to himself. Beast Boy hummed for a moment and then shrugged.

"Or he'll leave stuff in increasingly obvious places to mess with us," the green teen offered. The others blinked then stared at him and he looked around with a frown. "What?" he questioned, "Dude I'm a prankster, this is classic prank material and I know how a prankster thinks," he stated with a nod. Robin grunted and palmed his face. Great, now he had to deal with another prankster villain.

As if Duela wasn't horrible enough to deal with when he was sober…

' _Note to self, prevent X from meeting Duela by any means necessary barring murder,'_ he internally decided. It would certainly not be good to have the Joker's daughter in town to mess with him and then team up with an equally unpredictable thief. Hell, he had a feeling Duela would actually enjoy working with X. She was a 'semi hero' occasionally but she was a jokester and prankster at heart. Working with another would appeal to her.

"Right, so keep an eye out for surprises from X," he grumbled and turned to march back into the tower with the X-suit in hand. Cyborg watched the others follow after their leader and started to close the doors. He missed a certain black clad thief hanging above him as he slipped in through the briefly ajar door…

00

Training had been, well, it had been a chore. Aside from what was typical physical exercises by now, Robin had also wanted them to learn about body language. The theory in that it was learning to see subtle hints of movement to read a person was sound. It was the practical application that had been the problem. Explaining it was easy, teaching it was hard and Robin wasn't sure his methods had worked.

He knew how to read body language, sure, but he'd underestimated the difficulty of teaching others to do so. The Batman, a master detective who had a knack for noticing subtle things, had trained him; Robin had naturally picked up the same traits. The rest of the Titans had no such background; Raven was the only one who had even a slight idea of what they were trying to learn.

So it was a tedious few hours at best and pointless work at worst. Robin had, eventually, realized he'd need to take baby steps with this kind of training. His friends certainly wouldn't be able to pick up such a skill in a day even with his help. So with that in mind he'd finally dismissed them and hurried to his room to brood, or whatever it was that he did when he wasn't with the rest of them.

Beast Boy had gone to the kitchen for a snack, attempting to read others was clearly not something he was well versed in. Despite having excellent senses his mind was always wandering and couldn't seem to focus on the subtle hints people made. Cyborg had gone to work on the T-car with a better understanding than BB. He was better at it but he could easily attribute that to his cybernetic enhancements allowing him an unfair advantage.

Starfire also hadn't faired very well with the lessons, but that was mostly because human and Tamaranean body language were different. She'd said that it was due to them being descended from a species of cat. So of course they had some moderately different reactions to stimuli than a human would. It had been only a temporary surprise that she had thought that out so well. Then again, despite popular opinion Starfire wasn't an idiot.

Raven had made some progress in reading others, more so than BB or Star anyways. Cy had her beat but then again Raven also cheated a bit in the fact that she was an Empath so she could feel emotions. This allowed her an even more unfair advantage than Cy and had irritated Robin. He hadn't considered the vastly different skill sets of his team, their physiology, or mentality, when he'd thought of the idea.

Needless to say it would've made things easier if he had…

Still with the training over, Starfire and Raven silently walked to Raven's room. As they did so something occurred to the dark titan. Starfire had, at least, seen the Red-X in the future fight. She glanced at her red haired teammate and wondered how different the twenty years had made that fight against him. If she judged solely on their previous encounter then Starfire was physically superior to the current X… but…

"So," she began and shifted under her cloak uncomfortably. They passed into her room and she staid in the doorway. Starfire looked to her female friend curiously with a single brow raised, "how much tougher was X in the future?" the dark titan finally questioned. "In comparison to the one we fought that kicked our butts I mean," she added. The alien powerhouse made an oh with her mouth and then sighed.

"From what I have seen of the X of now," she began as she crossed her legs and hovered in midair, "he has very little in the way of martial training. I believe he is a brawler, but has had some directions given to him on how to fight effectively. But as the X of the future was twenty years older he was also more skilled and knowledgeable," the red haired alien powerhouse explained. Raven arched a brow as she walked forward.

"So in laymen's terms?" she asked. Starfire blew a breath into her bangs and closed her eyes as the door behind Raven closed, though she did note it seemed a bit delayed.

"If the X from the future were to do battle with the X from this time, it would be not the contest who would be victorious. While I am certain the X of the now would be a most unpredictable opponent, he would still be disarmed relatively quickly," the girl replied. Raven widened her eyes and then mentally wondered how fast he'd disabled Starfire in their 'spar' if that were the case. Though her friend's wording was a bit odd.

"Disarmed?" she questioned. Starfire grimaced.

"I am meaning that literally," she admitted. Raven felt her eyes bolt open and shuddered in response.

"So he doesn't pull any punches in the future," Raven guessed. Starfire nodded her head and rubbed her biceps.

"From my observations, no he did not," she replied. She then watched as Raven sat on her bed and brought her legs up. The dark titan then looked at her expectantly.

"So you went back to talk at Gizmo's headquarters," she recalled. Starfire idly nodded her head and looked to the ceiling. She took a breath and then nodded as she continued with her story…

00

(20 years in the future…)

Red-X and Starfire appeared in Tartarus Technologies out of a flash. The flash wasn't from the thief's usual teleport, Starfire knew what that felt like and this had felt easier on her stomach. Whatever it was had been nigh instant however, and they were back where they needed to be. X had taken only a moment to collect the drone from the truck, and inform the guards of Cypher's remains, before he'd brought them back to the Tartarus Technologies building.

X walked passed Starfire and approached Gizmo, while the girl collected herself and followed. Her encounter with Cypher had been… well… her head still felt like someone had lodged something in her skull. It was not a pleasant experience to be certain. Not only did her head hurt, but she also felt like her body was sluggish. She hoped it was normal for people who encountered Cypher, and not that her tamaranean physiology had reacted poorly to the intrusion.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Gizmo demanded. Starfire shook her head and looked to the tiny terror. He had the drone in his hands and was looking it over with a scowl. X was beside him with his arms crossed and shrugged.

"No idea, but whatever they are the Steel Clan were shooting 'em around like fucking RPG's," X remarked candidly. Gizmo grunted in response and tossed the machine onto a white pad, which suddenly lit up.

"Lets see what makes you tick," he murmured. X leaned forward for a better view while Starfire approached them from behind. She then watched a holographic screen appear in midair and the innards of the drone appeared on it. "What the puss spewing hell is this?" Gizmo demanded. He swiftly raised his hand and a holographic keypad formed for him to type on as he examined the innards of the device.

"So you have no idea what this is?" X questioned. That would be bad news. New tech meant a new player was involved and that always made things messy. Gizmo grunted in response as he formed a holographic image of the drone and started to manipulate it with his hands. He mutters under his breath as he does while he pulls the holographic image apart with his hands piece by piece.

"Fucking fuck, why is this shit familiar?" he wondered. He then tossed his hands forward to dismiss the holographic images. "Screw it! I'll look into it later," he declared and then turned to the former thief, "Now about that data-chit?" he remarked. X rolled his eyes and tossed the device he pulled out of Cypher's head to Gizmo. The tiny terror caught it and looked it over curiously.

"Wh-what is that b-being?" Starfire questioned. She also grimaced at the stutter and wondered how long that would last for.

"It's a data-chit, essentially a smaller more modern version of the old hard-drives you'd find in computers back in your time," X replied with a shrug. He then paused and hummed, "It also holds several terabytes of stored memory," he added. Gizmo nodded and then glanced at his computer with a grimace. He then shook his head and turned to the door.

"No, I am so not chancing her fucking ghosts getting in my god damn systems again," he grunted. With that he turned and marched out of the ops center and into the depths of the building. As he did Starfire looked to X for an explanation and he grunted.

"Cypher hacked our systems once… we needed Oracle herself to wipe the system and then restore it afterwards," he admitted. Though to be fair they had actually enjoyed having Oracle around. She was a hot redhead he could quip with while Gizmo shamelessly ogled her. Hell, they didn't even care that she was a paraplegic. Although sadly after Bat-breath finally married her so they didn't really see her much anymore…

' _I still say the kid only married her for that reason alone,'_ he thought grumpily. Though he did know that Oracle and the 'Batman' had a very long history together. They had worked together as Robin and Batgirl after all, long before any of the iterations of the 'Titans' had been formed. Given their long and storied history together, it was little wonder why they had finally tied the knot.

He shook such thoughts from his head and looked to Starfire. He noted how she rubbed her neck and frowned. He quickly went through a few hand signs as he approached the girl and then placed a hand onto the back of her neck. "Wh-what are you…?" she started to question, only for him to interrupt.

"I'm using a technique my people developed, it stimulates cellular growth to encourage rapid healing," he replied. _'Shosen Jutsu_ _ **, (Mystic Palm Technique,)**_ _'_ he thought as green energy formed over the palm of his hand and seeped into the girl's neck. She shuddered as she felt the eerie sensation of her flesh knitting itself back together. A moment later the masked blond removed his hand and stepped away from the girl.

"There you go all better now," he offered casually. Starfire idly reached back to rub at her neck in surprise; she then looked at him curiously.

"D-does your 'technique' have th-the limit?" she questioned. Naruto nodded his head.

"Severe overuse of the technique actually causes rapid aging," he noted with a tick of his fingers, "it's also useless for major injuries or poisons, though I have separate jutsu for that last one," he continued with another tick and then frowned deeply, "it's also ridiculously hard to use, normally requiring perfect chakra control," he explained. It'd actually taken him the better part of a year to figure out a work around for that last bit.

Basically he shoved as much chakra into it as he was able… which was honestly a lot.

"Anyways," the thief noted as he sat down on the couch. He offered the girl a seat as well but she mutely frowned and then hovered in the air in front of him. She crossed her legs beneath herself while Naruto awkwardly looked away from her. "You wanted to know why I haven't helped Cypher," he noted. Starfire silently nodded her head, eyes narrowed on the thief who let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Well first of all, I have tried to help her," he began. Starfire raised a brow. She found it hard to believe he'd 'tried' all that hard given she was still a captive. "Look I know it sounds sketchy, but Cypher isn't in a good position to be saved," the blond explained and then sighed at the girl's look. Really, he was trying not to explain just how messed up Cypher's situation was, it would likely put the girl on a rampage of epic proportions…

… Or depress her to the point where her powers were useless…

"Okay look, Cypher's brain was removed," the blond explained with a sigh. "Originally I even thought that the Crime Doctor had a hand in it, but he said it was a barbaric bit of surgery and had wanted no part of it. I ended up finding out they went to Doctor Hugo Strange to get it done in the end," he noted with a scowl. If fucking Ras Al'ghul hadn't already killed that fucking prick during the Arkham City incident he would have…

"Anyways," he said with a shake of his head. Getting angry at what Strange did was pointless seeing as he was already dead and what was done was done. "After they took her brain out they dumped the body and put her brain in a cybernetic brain-case," the blond continued. He paused and then glanced at the horrified girl's expression. _'This probably won't make that any better,'_ he admitted to himself as he continued.

"In case you're wondering, the brain case was co-developed by Tartarus Inc and Wayne Industries, it's designed to plug you directly into the internet and assist with controlling cybernetic limbs, it was actually an offshoot of some tech to help give the paralyzed the ability to walk again," he explained. Said tech had of course been a hit, though when they offered to use it on Oracle she'd vehemently refused. She'd been of the mind that if she had something like that in her spine, someone could hack it to control her legs…

' _Not a bad call,'_ he admitted to himself. More than a few people had had such tech hacked since it first came out, though thankfully newer forms of security was always in development for it. He shook such thoughts away and leaned back, eyes closed as he thought back to Cypher. Specifically the first time he'd tried to save the poor thing from her horrible situation.

"The reason they did this is because the human mind can't normally handle having multiple bodies running around. It just wasn't built for that kind of sensory overload, so they had to modify her brain using the braincase. It lets her comprehend what is going on around her, though I'm of the opinion she tries to block out the other bodies if she's using more than one at any given time," the blond continued then sighed.

"But because she's in a braincase and not some huge system, Cypher is easy to move, but also completely defenseless without a full set of guards watching her," the masked thief continued softly. "The first time I encountered her, I didn't even know she was as bad off as she is, so of course I didn't think to help her. When I did learn what happened my first thought was to save her, but that proved to be difficult," he noted with a frown.

"The first few times, Cypher subtly helped me find her, but every time I got close to getting her out her 'masters' would make a big spectacle of attacking the city or my friends. With some of my abilities this didn't matter but it was enough time to unplug Cypher then escape," he noted with a frown. Starfire shook her head; her breathing was heavy as she tried to wrap her mind around what had happened to the girl.

It was one thing to be held against your will, it was another to be forced to work for those captors, but Cypher had also been mutilated on top of it all. She wasn't just a slave; she was a victim of the most cruel and monstrous sort of villains. The kind of villains that had absolutely no remorse for the horrible things they did. Starfire admitted, if only to herself, that even the Gordanians at their worst were never so cruel…

"S-surely it is not s-so easy to m-move her," she pleaded. Naruto was silent for a moment and then sighed tiredly.

"Her braincase is small enough that it fits inside of a large briefcase," he responded, "they can literally move her whenever they want then just plug her into another wireless interface for those mobile platforms of hers to move around," he remarked tiredly. "Further, when her 'masters' found out she was helping me… well lets just say they made her pay for it," the blond whispered and closed his eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" Starfire questioned softly. Naruto palmed his face and sighed.

"Her braincase was wired different to normal, they literally wired it up so they had direct access to the pain centers of her brain," he explained. He grimaced as he recalled an hour long video of Cypher screaming they had once left for him, having set her up with a voice box for the soul purpose of showing him just how effective it was. After a moment he shook his head to banish those horrible sounds and looked back at the girl.

"Essentially its like they've put a cattle prod directly to her brain," he remarked with a shudder. He then rubbed the back of his neck while the redheaded girl stared at him in a combination of shock and horror. Though to be fair he didn't expect she knew how to react to this. Tamaraneans were all highly emotional beings; they weren't typically logical or pragmatic, although with Blackfire being the obvious exception to the rule.

"D-do you know her n-name?" Starfire asked softly. Naruto blinked and then nodded.

"Before she was Cypher, her name was Willow," he replied softly. Starfire nodded and then began to whisper in Tamaranean. Thanks to Blackfire, Naruto was well versed in the Tamaranean language. His knowledge was partly due to her and he having a very… close… relationship at the time. Though that relationship had soured greatly after he found out her plans for her sister.

Regardless, the blond could understand what the redhead was saying.

Some of the words unfortunately would not translate into English or Japanese well. Naruto knew that a third of the words in the Tamaranean language were basically just meant to express or denote feelings. For example was the word 'Zota' which was used to express the desire or readiness for battle. Given that Tamaraneans were highly emotional, not logical, and the word structure made sense to them.

It roughly translated to: *'I ask that you find peace Willow, and that X'hol watches over you, till your given freedom.'* Again, without the emotional connotations denoted by the other words in the sentence, it wasn't a very good translation. It was also why Starfire talked so strangely, she was directly word for word translating Tamaranean to English. Hence why what she said didn't always make sense.

As she finished Starfire's eyes hardened and she clenched her fists.

"Who are th-these 'm-masters' you spoke of?" she questioned. It was not a calm tone, it was the kind of tone Naruto heard from someone about to go on a manhunt. She was sad, she was angry, and she knew exactly who she wanted to take it out on. With how she'd been a slave herself, her empathy for Cypher was obvious. The masked blond would've even helped the girl on her justified crusade.

However they were distracted when the lights flickered then suddenly powered down.

Naruto frowned. The buildings lights' going out was not normal for a number of reasons. Gizmo had developed his own generator for the building, giving them year round power while also selling a fair bit to the city. Number two, when the lights did occasionally go out it was due to maintenance on the generator, which wasn't very often. Three, the backup generators would've come on by now if something simple had happened.

All that in mind Naruto knew that something was amiss, but it never hurt to be sure. He raised a hand to his earpiece while Starfire looked all around them in surprise. She didn't know as much about this building as Naruto, but even she knew the lights suddenly going out was unusual. She formed a Starbolt in her hand to cast an eerie green glow around the room and noticed that everything seemed to have powered down.

"Hey Giz, did you do something to the generator recently? If not then did Cypher's chit have a ghost in it?" he questioned as he got back onto his feet. He moved around the room to check on a few devices and confirmed it wasn't just the lights, but the entire power grid. "Cause I think the power grid just went offline," he noted aloud. He heard Gizmo swear a few times before he replied.

(No! I'm down in an isolated part of the building and so is her chit,) the tiny terror responded. Naruto hummed in response and walked over to a nearby widow. As he (Have the backup generators come on?) he questioned. Naruto glanced outside and spotted a vehicle above the building, it was quiet, way too quiet for anything but a stealth transport, and it caused the blond to grunt.

"No, but we do got a stealth vehicle heading our way," he replied with a frown. Gizmo grunted on the other end of the line. "Were you expecting company?" Naruto questioned. Gizmo had on very rare occasion had company over without telling him. He doubted this was one of those situations but again, it never hurt to be sure. Gizmo was silent for a moment while Naruto homed in on the vehicle in the air.

(No,) he finally replied. Naruto narrowed his eyes in response.

"Giz, get up here and take the Cutie with you to check on the generator," the blond stated. He idly checked his suits systems to make sure Cypher hadn't slipped any surprises in. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everything was a-ok with it. 'Great, that means she had a spare body,' he realized and growled. _'I should've known she wouldn't be that easy to deal with,'_ he internally grumbled.

He felt sorry for Cypher, but she was still fucking annoying to deal with…

(Why do I need to take the bitch with me?) Gizmo demanded.

"Cause I think Cypher is in the system," he replied. Gizmo cursed and slammed a hand down.

(How? I can't find any ghosts on the chit!) Gizmo reminded. Naruto grunted in response.

"She probably had a spare body back with your servers, I'd say when I gave the all clear they reestablished the connection and she broke into our systems… again," the blond responded. Gizmo proceeded to swear quite loudly and violently, while promising swift unyielding vengeance on Cypher. Naruto ignored his friend's rand to glance at Starfire, who looked at him worriedly.

"Th-the Cypher is he-here?" she questioned. Naruto silently nodded his head and cracked his neck.

"Giz focus," the masked blond ordered. The tiny terror continued to grumble angrily but ceased his loud rant. "Now get up here and take the cutie down to the generator, I'ma go greet our uninvited guests," the once-thief ordered his friend. He heard Gizmo grunt his ascent.

(Right… so exactly how much damage am I looking to have to have repaired after this?) the tiny terror deadpanned. Naruto mentally calculated the number of ways he was going to beat their intruders in his head. This was mostly calculated by way of how annoyed Naruto felt at the moment, how many jutsu he was willing to use when annoyed, and how much he really hated the idiots involved in all this…

"Just have a few grand ready," the blond responded casually. Gizmo groaned and Naruto cut the connection to his friend. He looked to Starfire and narrowed his eyes. "Stay here and wait for Giz, he'll probably need help," the blond ordered. The girl made to argue but he placed a hand over her mouth. "No! No arguing, I get that you want to help but I really don't need it," he insisted.

"Gizmo hasn't seen actual field work in over a decade," he noted with a mental frown. He knew Gizmo preferred a more sedate environment, but he really did need to get out more as well. "So if you want to help me, then help keep my friend safe," the masked thief pleaded. Starfire pensively looked at the thief then nodded with a sigh. With that done, he removed his hand from her mouth and nodded his head.

"Good," Naruto noted and turned on his heel, "then I think its high time I show these assholes exactly who they've pissed off…" he stated ominously as he marched out of the Ops Center…

00

(Roof…)

Cypher 0.3, or rather another of her mobile platforms, sat in the flying stealth transport above the Tartarus Technologies HQ. Her luminescent green optics turned to several men in yellow armor with wooden masks and then to several 'cyborg ninja', finally her optics fell on a cloak, which seemed to hover in midair unaided, hooks and chains dangling from it, and an eerie black mask placed where its face should've been.

Cypher raised her arm and produced a series of holograms. She pointed to the men in yellow armor and pointed to the hallway leading to the Ops Center of the building, where she produced a picture of Red-X. She then pointed at the cloak and motioned 'behind' the men in armor. Finally she pointed to the Cyborg Ninja and motioned to herself, before she pointed at a large section near the bottom of the building.

Their was a collective nod from all but the cloak, which let out a haunting laugh as it surged out of the vehicle like a wraith, moving through the walls of the vehicle and down towards the building. Cypher twitched before she motioned to the door, which opened and they leaped out after the living cloak. She lunged forward and landed in a crouch, followed by the Cyborg Ninja. The men in armor lowered lines to get down.

Cypher paused as she moved her attention to her other mobile platform in Gizmo's R&D facility…

Her other body jerked it's head up as her conscious mind took control. She was knelt in front of the servers, her body having remained there since X and Starfire had left. She idly looked to the side to see a man held up with her off tentacle. He gripped at the tentacle with a pained expression, clearly short of breath. She tilted her head to one side then hurled him to the other side of the room.

She turned back to the servers and continued to hack them for the information they wanted. She attached her off tentacle to another server to hack it, seeking out more data. As her body did the busy work, Cypher allowed her conscious mind to back up and shift to yet another of her mobile platforms. The body in the server room continued with its mission unabated, one of her 'Ghost Programs' having been given control…

Cypher opened her optics once more, this time in a transport truck that was speeding towards the Tartarus Technologies building from ground level. She instantly noticed she was on board with the 'Steel Clan'. She was not fond of the group despite enlisting their aide on a number of her missions. Actually, given the number of them that were cut to pieces that actually made a deranged form of sense.

If she'd liked them, she wouldn't bring them on missions likely to end with them in pieces after all. Her distaste for them probably stemmed from their desire to remove or destroy their organic bodies. Having been forced into her current form, the fools who desired to be as she were, well… she actually didn't have a word for it… and she refused to look up a word on the net, it wasn't worth the effort.

Despite that Cypher held back her annoyance.

She looked to the leader of this group and held out her hand. She formed a holographic map of the Tartarus Technologies building. She pointed at the leader of the Steel Clan and then she pointed to the main doors. Their job was simply to cause mayhem, but the Steel Clan didn't know that. They thought they were going to storm the place and get some new tech for their bodies… idiots.

She'd send them into a firefight with Tartarus' security guards, while her 'allies' up top dealt with X… or at least tried too anyways. None of them were trained to handle a warrior of X's caliber. Further, none of them were equipped to handle even Gizmo, of the strike team up top she wouldn't be surprised, or saddened, if everyone else was lost. She was assured survival by way of being in a braincase and not truly on the field.

Although she had a feeling Masquerade would also survive that encounter. Though granted, Masquerade was a magical ghost; he could basically survive anything short of and potentially including nuclear weapons. He'd been chosen due to X's fear of ghosts, which was rather well known in most circles that dealt with him. Further, Tartarus' Anti-Ghost tech was sorely limited in scope, and Fenton Works had closed down years ago.

Cypher deleted her errant thoughts and returned to the present. Being just a brain seemed to cause her mind to wander more often than not. Getting lost in her thoughts as she had too few other sensations to occupy her attention. It was certainly better than thinking about her situation. Regardless, she had a job to do and the Steel Clan seemed ready to play their part in it. As a distraction sure, but it wasn't like she liked the fools.

She was tortured and butchered to become the thing she was now, the Steel Clan cut their bodies apart willingly. As far as she was concerned, they deserved whatever they got. She set a timer for self-detonation for the platform. Her optics flashed as she allowed her mind to leave the mobile platform and return to her body on Tartarus Tech's rooftop. Her optics flared as she reestablished control of the platform and nodded to the building.

The men in armor hurried forward to the doors. Masquerade, the 'living' cloak gave a haunting laugh as it sank through the floor… or was it a ceiling? Either way, it left and Cypher looked to her 'guards'. The Cyborg Ninja were elite members of the Steel Clan, one clearly female, one clearly male, and one… she wasn't sure. That final one seemed to have eradicated all traces of gender from their frame…

… had she mentioned just how strange the Steel Clan were before? Well if not, then they were strange. Really, _really_ , _**really**_ strange. Removing a sense of pain… okay she'd like that one, but removing their gender? That just seemed asinine. Sure it was probably for a reason… like… err… maybe to remove sexual desire? Or something… Well whatever reason it was, she was just going to say that one was stupid, or a eunuch if nothing else.

' _Never trust a eunuch,'_ she thought with an internal snicker. That went double with Ninja Eunuchs in her opinion. Ninja were always sneaky, and you didn't trust sneaky people on principle. She swiftly deleted her errant thoughts. Her mind went to such _**weird**_ places sometimes. She refocused on the mission as she followed the Ninja to the edge of the building and then started to climb down the side of it.

With how X was no doubt ready for them, it was just easier to climb down the walls than it was to try and get passed him. If he didn't go ham and start spamming those 'jutsu' of his, or cut them to bloody pieces with that sword he liked to carry around, then he'd go ahead and just tear them apart limb from limb with his bare hands for well and truly pissing him off. She knew that from personal experience…

00

(With Naruto…)

Naruto marched forward silently; he cracked his neck as he saw men in yellow armor approach. They opened fire on him as soon as they spotted him and the blond unsheathed his wakizashi to block the bullets. _'Oi, do these amateurs even know who they're shooting at right now?'_ he wondered to himself. Bullets might work on a lesser Shinobi, but he was by no means a lesser Shinobi.

' _Cutie isn't here to complain or get in the way… so no more mister nice guy,'_ He idly raised his hands and went through several hand seals as he continued to walk forward. _'Ram, Dog, Boar, Hare, Bird, Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rat, Horse, Serpent, Monkey, Ram, Ox, Dragon,'_ the blond thought as his eyes narrowed. He could've shortened the seals needed, but he wanted to get the point across that you did not fuck with him…

" _ **Fuuton: Fuuryudan no Jutsu! (Wind-Release: Wind Dragon Bullet Technique!)"**_ the blond exclaimed as a dragon of condensed air, which looked to be made of clouds, roared to life and surged forward. The jutsu was at full power, and given his wind-affinity was his strongest and the jutsu was more than enough to tear forward, ripping the hallway and anything else it encountered to pieces.

Several of the armored soldiers spotted it coming and lunged out of the way. Two weren't so lucky as the dragon seemed to tear through them with the full force of a hurricane. Neither man got back up from their injuries and Naruto smirked. _'Alright the rest of 'em should,'_ he paused with a curse as he blocked more bullets from the remaining soldiers. _'Nani?'_ he internally demanded.

' _Did… did they not just see what I did to their friends?'_ he demanded incredulously. Usually he didn't need to use more than one jutsu before idiots like that got the message and went away. Still, if they were this stubborn he'd oblige them! With that he held his left hand to his side. _'Giz is going to be pissed… but whatever,'_ he decided as he formed a violet ball of chakra in his hand, as the ring formed around it he reared his arm back.

" _ **Rasenringu! (Spiraling Fear Wheel!)"**_ he snarled as he hurled the ball forward. It soon hit a wall and exploded outwards, grinding and shredding everything it encountered into dust. The ball managed to catch three of the remaining soldiers in its wake, leaving literally no trace of them behind. It also removed a large section of the hallway, as the blond could now see down a few floors.

' _Yikes… probably shouldn't have done that,'_ the blond admitted to himself. Gizmo was going to start yelling at him for all the damage. He liked his friend when he didn't yell at him for such things. He paused his thoughts as the remaining soldiers started to fire at him once more. He idly raised a brow. _'What the fuck? I just tore the others apart and they still aren't running away?'_ he wondered in disbelief.

Usually all it took was a Rasenringu and people ran away screaming…

Still if they wanted to piss him off then he'd oblige. He went through several more hand seals. When he finally finished his entire body began to spark with electricity. _**"Raiton: Raijuu Jutsu! (Lightning Release: Thunder Beast Technique!)"**_ he exclaimed. Instantly the electricity around his body took the vague form of a tiger with twin tails. He crouched forward as the soldiers backed up down the hall.

He surged forward like a living lightning bolt, ripping and tearing through the men's armor with lightning infused claws. He darted from man to man and roared at each. He ended his technique as he slammed the final soldier's head through a wall and paused. The electricity around his body simmered and faded as he did so. He lifted the soldier up and raised a brow. He idly pushed the man's helmet back to see sunken discolored dried up skin.

' _What the hell… are they Zombies? Well that'd explain why they didn't run away… they didn't know any better,'_ the blond internally remarked. Stranger than that however was that he was also wearing an old wooden mask. _'Why does that seem familiar?'_ he wondered with a scratch of his head. He paused his thoughts when he saw a green ball of energy form from the body and rise up alongside the wooden mask.

' _What the hell, hitodama (Human souls)?'_ Naruto internally demanded as he turned to see more of the balls form where the other soldiers had fallen and more masks form as well. The masks then seemed to surge into the darkness, a brief bout of haunting laughter echoing in the halls. _'Okay… so I have more to deal with than soldiers,'_ he internally remarked. He swore as he gripped a hooked chain as it tried to wrap around his neck.

He then grunted as the owner of the chain yanked on it and tore him off of his feet. The blond once-shinobi cursed as he was dragged down into the hole he'd made in the floor with the Rasenringu. He grunted as he was slammed into the floor below, and the chain unraveled from around his neck and surged into the darkness. Naruto groaned lightly and got up, a hand held to his head.

"Alright, who's the dead man?" he demanded furiously. He paused when he saw several more hook tipped chains surged at him from the shadows. "Oh shit!" he swore as he ducked under the first then flipped out of the way of the next. He then went into a series of back flips to avoid the remaining chains and came out in a low crouch. He looked to see the chains return to the shadows, and a cloaked figure to appear.

"Alright asshole, just who the fuck do you think you are?" Naruto demanded. He paused however when he saw a wooden mask inside the torn tattered and stitched up cloak, alongside several hook tipped chains… and nothing else. He blinked and then took notice of the subtle luminescent green glow that surrounded the figure. "Oh… so a literal dead man," he murmured then widened his eyes as the figure raised it's hook tipped chains.

Naruto swore as the ghost sent its chains at him, hurling them like whips at the blond once-Shinobi. Naruto leaped and lunged out of the way of the chains. He ducked under one and rolled forward then scurried behind a broken piece of wall for cover. He tried to catch his breath, only to pause at a haunting laugh. He looked up to see the ghost looking down at him… from where it was half phased through the wall to do so.

"Oh that is so cheap!" the blond complained as the ghost knocked him back with a chain. He groaned as he slammed into the far wall with a grunt and made a t shaped seal with his hands. _**"Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_ he snarled. Several clones appeared beside him in plumes of smoke and launched forward. The clones maneuvered their bodies around the ghost as it turned to regard them and swung its chains.

The chains lashed out like whips while the clones leaped and dodged around them, then leaped at the ghost. Naruto himself had also gotten up and ran towards the ghost, leaping from back to back on his clones. He leaped the final bit of the way and twisted out of the way of one of the hooked chains as he tried to punch the ghost, however his hand passed through it instead, and it gave a haunting laugh.

Naruto landed on the ground and looked from the ghost to his hand, then scowled. _'Why did it have to be a ghost, I hate ghosts! I can't punch ghosts!'_ the blond thought as he ducked out of the way of another chain from the specter. His clones moved around to attack from behind, but the ghost turned into a spin, its numerous chains lashed out and ripped and tore threw most of them.

Naruto grimaced as he got their memories of it. Being impaled normally was bad enough, but with hooked chains? _'Urgh, well that just went way up on my list of ways I do not want to die,'_ he inwardly remarked. With a shake of his head he returned his attention to his clones as they struggled against the ghost. He tried to see any kind of weaknesses it might have, but thus far his clones were being destroyed.

This was mostly due to how the specter was able to phase in and out of existence too fast for any of them to actually harm it. _'Maybe I just need to destroy it so fast that it doesn't have a chance to phase out,'_ he considered to himself. With an admittedly shaky plan in mind, he quickly formed a rasenringu in his off hand. He then turned to watch the ghost for an opening. He saw one as it lashed out at his final clone.

The blond ducked out and hurled the Rasenringu at the specter then watched it explode.

The rasenringu created yet another massive sphere of destruction where the spirit had been, the blond once-shinobi grinned as it did. "Ha!" he crowed only to pause when he saw several more of the green hitodama form in the air. They spun around in midair, causing cloth and metal shards, and wooden splinters to form in midair. The bits and pieces were then pulled inward to reform the ghost.

It hovered in midair, it's ghastly green aura flaring brightly while horrible crimson eyes burned within its mask. It seemed to shoot him an amused look when it finished and he twitched. _'Of fucking course it couldn't be that easy,'_ he thought with a scowl. He then watched as several familiar wooden masks formed around the creature, they spun around its body for a moment before they shot out all over the room.

Naruto blinked and looked to each of them with a raised brow.

' _What new hell is this?'_ he wondered. He then swore as the masks cracked in half, which formed demented 'grins' across their surfaces, and proceeded to fire neon green beams of energy at him from said mouths. He leaped out of the way of the first few beams, and then poured on the speed. He seemed to blur around the room as he avoided the beams. However that simply caused the ghost to fire his beams even faster.

Naruto swore as he heard Gizmo message him while he was avoiding the beams of green ghostly energy. He raised a hand to his ear as he came to a stop. "What is it Gizmo?!" he demanded then continued to evade the beams of energy. "I'm kinda busy right now!" he snarled at his friend. He then leaped over a hook tipped chain as the ghost lashed at him with it low to the ground.

(What the fuck are you doing up there?! I can hear the explosions from down here!) Gizmo snarled in response. Naruto grunted as he ducked another chain then flipped back from a beam of energy. _'This is ridiculous!'_ the blond thought to himself. How was he supposed to fight a fucking ghost?! He couldn't even touch them! Not to mention that Dani was off to who the fuck knows where right now.

"Giz I'm dealing with a fucking ghost is what I'm doing!" the blond responded as he formed a mini-rasenringu in his hand. They were useful for hitting targets precisely with the least amount of damage. Naruto just hoped they'd work on the fucked up masks that were shooting at him with ghost energy.

(A ghost? Anyone we know?) the Tiny Terror questioned. Naruto grunted in response as he cartwheeled out of the way of a chain and ghost-ray combo. He flipped out of his cartwheel to avoid another ecto-ray and landed on all fours. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and then hurled his mini-rasenringu at one of the masks on the walls. It exploded against one of the masks and reduced it to dust.

"Ha!" he crowed only to pause as the mask reformed a second later and the ghost looked at him with amusement… "Oh you cheap ass bastard!" the blond acused. He then yelped as a chain wrapped around his leg and lifted him up then slammed down into the ground, leaving a crater in his wake. "I hate ghosts so much…" he muttered under his breath. He then raised his hand to his ear to reply to Gizmo.

"He has a mask… cloak… chains… kind of dick thus far," the blond remarked blandly.

(Huh… sounds like Masquerade,) Gizmo noted after a beat. Naruto grunted in response then swore as a chain wrapped around his neck and yanked him back. He gripped the chain as he was dragged around the room. He then dug his heels into the ground and gripped the chain with a furious snarl.

"Alright no more of this chain swinging bullshit!" the blond grit out as he formed a ball of violet energy into his hand. _**"RASENGAN! (Spiraling Sphere!)"**_ he roared as he slammed the ball of energy into the chain. It snapped the chain where it hit and the blond looked at 'Masquerade' with narrowed eyes. However he twitched violently when he saw the chain reform as well… he then proceeded to yell every curse he knew at the ghost…

00

(Elsewhere…)

Gizmo felt the ground shake beneath his boots and explosions sound in the distance. Given that Tempest was currently having problems with Masquerade and it was painfully obvious the blond wasn't causing them. _'Well I owe him an apology later…'_ he briefly considered then scoffed, _'nah, he'd get a big head if I did,'_ he decided with a nod. He paused his thoughts as he felt still more explosions sound.

"What the fuck is happening out there?" he demanded. He and Starfire were heading through the building. Gizmo on foot alongside the tamaranean, he wondered why she wasn't flying for only a moment before he realized she probably couldn't right now. His info on Tamaraneans said they needed to experience 'the joy of flight' to fly, which felt like some kind of Peter Pan bull shit to him.

Still, that likely meant the mess with Cypher had her all torn up… he plainly didn't care.

' _Bitch better not slow me down,'_ he thought as they turned a corner. He then paused those thoughts as another explosion sounded and grit his teeth. "Alright that is fucking it!" he snarled and raised his hand to his left arm. He started to rapidly type on a mobile he carried with him and pulled up his security chief's number. He swiftly dialed it and waited for it to connect.

A moment later the man's face appeared on a holographic screen. Unfortunately he wasn't alone; the man seemed to be with several other guards at the front door. From what little Gizmo could see they were fighting a bunch of Steel Clan cyborgs. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, but with the power out their security systems were down as well, meaning the guards were on their own with whatever weapons they had.

(Boss we have some problems down here,) the security chief remarked then ducked as a blaster bolt passed over his head. He turned and returned fire, which amused Gizmo to see as the Cyborg in question literally lose his head a moment later, while the man turned back to Gizmo. (We have Steel Clan sending out explosive drones all over the building, which is making evacuation next to impossible,) he swiftly explained.

The man paused to knock the butt of his riffle against a cyborg's face, then pulled a taser from his side and jabbed it into the Steel Clan's neck. The cyborg screamed in pain before the security chief kicked him to the side and turned back to Gizmo. Gizmo himself internally made a note to raise the man's pay, he was worth every scent. (Would it be too much trouble to ask for Red-X to make an intervention?) the chief questioned through labored breathes. Gizmo grunted in response.

"He's busy fighting a ghost upstairs," the tiny terror replied. The security chief grimaced.

(Who is it?) he questioned with a look of dread.

"Masquerade," Gizmo replied. The chief breathed a relieved sigh.

(Oh thank god, I was afraid it was one of the old Amity Park ghosts,) he muttered, (I had more than enough of them back during my glory days in high school,) he remarked. Gizmo didn't both to ask, already knowing that the man had lived in Amity Park prior to coming into his employ.

"Whatever Baxter, just keep those assholes off my back while I get to the generator and get the security back online," he ordered. The blond security chief raised his hand in salute and then yelped as several cyborgs dog piled on him. He returned fire while Gizmo cut the feed and scowled. "Mother fucking Steel Clan bastards!" he roared and then shot a look at Starfire when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"W-will he be the alr-right?" she questioned. Gizmo briefly wondered why the girl didn't have subtitles then roughly brushed her hand from his shoulder.

"Baxter 'ill be fine, I hired him cause he can take a fucking hit better than most," Gizmo admitted. Which was the honest truth, well that and Baxter had more experience with Ghosts than just about anyone else he could find. In an age were Ghosts were known to exist, that kind of experience was well received. Although he did wonder why Dani had found it so hilarious that Gizmo, who was a bald midget genius, got to boss him around…

… he'd wonder about that later.

"Sh-should we not h-help the R-red-X? He s-seemed to be in the tr-trouble," Starfire remarked. Gizmo grunted in response. Sure X had kind of been in trouble but he'd be fine when he remembered he had a Specter Deflector and Ghost Gauntlets built into his suit… wait… did he ever mention he'd installed those? _'Oh crap, with how little we deal with ghosts I forgot to tell him about 'em,'_ Gizmo admitted as he palmed his face.

He'd really dropped the ball this time…

He raised his hand and dialed Naruto on his mobile, but paused as they turned another corner. He and Starfire spotted several Steel Clan cyborgs at an elevator. They glanced to one another and then ducked out of the way as the Steel Clan opened fire on them. Starfire grunted and formed a Starbolt in her hand while Gizmo looked at his palm-top with an impatient snarl.

' _Pick up Temp, I don't have time to wait around,'_ he thought with a glance at Starfire. The red head was hurling starbolts down the hall at the Steel Clan where they exploded in the distance. _'Ugh… well… I guess I get to renovate the building,'_ Gizmo inwardly remarked with a flat look. He then paused as he considered a few modifications he'd actually wanted to make to the building for a while now…

(What the fuck is going on out there Giz?) Naruto demanded from the other end of the line. (I'm hearing a lot of explosions and I know for a fact they're not from this asshole ghost or me!) the thief exclaimed. Gizmo grunted in response and muttered to himself. Naruto honestly worried too much. He'd been through a lot over the years, just like the blond Shinobi after all.

"Temp shut up and do as I say," Gizmo stated flatly, "Turn your buckle counter clockwise and press the buttons on the side, then turn your bracelets to the plates with the green bands," he ordered. He then leaped from cover and fired a series of rockets from his backpack at the Steel Clan. As he did the cyborgs ducked out of the way and Starfire leaped out and hurled more Starbolts at them as they came out.

(Uh Giz, why am I suddenly Green-X?) Naruto questioned in confusion. Gizmo ignored him for a moment as he leaped to Starfire's side as the Steel Clan returned fire on them. The Tiny Terror swiftly started to type on his mobile and created a force field from his backpack around them both. The field took the brunt of shots from the Steel Clan before Starfire ran forward with Gizmo.

"Your green because your suit is using Ectoplasm right now instead of chakra," he replied as he and Starfire split up. The tiny terror disabled the shield and unlocked his Spider Legs from his backpack. He then twisted around a shot from a cyborg, and then knocked him to the ground with one of his legs. The tiny terror then leaped up with his spider legs and stab ed them down into the cyborg's back with a laugh.

(Why?) Naruto questioned slowly. However Gizmo wasn't able to answer as he was shot at from the side. With a growl the tiny terror unlocked a taser line from his wrist and fired it at the cyborg. The steel clan flunkie started to spasm as he was charged with over a thousand volts of electricity then fell over. _'Really need better surge protectors,'_ Gizmo noted to himself as he rewound his taser into his wrist.

As Gizmo dealt with a cyborg Starfire ducked into a sweeping kick to the next and then slammed her fist into the cyborg's face. He fell over as another took aim and fired at her, but she ducked out of the way and then lunged forward. She formed a Starbolt in her hand and tossed it into the face of the next cyborg before she grabbed him and literally shoved him through the doors of the elevator where he fell down the empty shaft.

The tamaranean powerhouse then brushed her hands off. Gizmo grunted as he placed himself back to the ground and glanced around. _'All clear,'_ he noted to himself. With the Steel clan dealt with, Gizmo breathed a relieved sigh and raised his hand to his ear. Starfire approached from the side and looked at him curiously, but the tiny terror just glared at her in response.

"It's to power a Specter Deflector and Ghost Gauntlets I lifted from the ruins of Fenton Works," he finally replied after a beat. He then smirked when he heard a sound like something getting punched, and Naruto started to howl with mad laughter. He sometimes wondered why his friend was so amused with the simplest things. Then again he was getting to punch a ghost, what wasn't there to love about that?

(Oh ho ho wha ha ha ha! Now it's on asshole!) the once-shinobi crowed. Gizmo rolled his eyes and cut the connection after that while Starifre looked at him curiously.

"Is the R-red-X alright?" she questioned. Gizmo snorted.

"Better than alright, he's getting to punch a ghost," he responded. Starfire raised a brow.

"The gh-ghost?" she muttered under her breath. "Is that n-not being the spirit of the de-deceased?" she questioned, she also frowned as the stutter was beginning to annoy her.

"Yeah, so?" Gizmo responded plainly.

"Do n-not the d-dead normally st-stay dead?" she replied in a questioning tone. Gizmo stared at her for a long while and then shook his head. He'd actually forgotten that in Starfire's time, dead people didn't tend to get back up from being dead. Meanwhile he and the rest of Tartarus had dealt with people coming back from the dead so often that they were desensitized to it ages ago…

… he honestly envied the girl's naivety right now.

"I wish," he muttered under his breath then glanced at her. "Sides, how many people have you seen die," he replied. Starfire shot him a flat look in response.

"M-more than I care to admit," she muttered then frowned at Gizmo's sudden look, "Wh-when I first arrived on th-this w-world, my f-friends and I d-disabled many of the Gordanians. The G-gordanians have suicide ch-chips in their b-bodies that activate when th-they are f-falling unc-conscious," she replied bluntly. Gizmo openly stared at her as she then crossed her arms. Gizmo blinked in response.

"No shit?" he questioned. The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well fuck… I didn't expect that," he admitted to himself then frowned, "Wait… did the other Titans know about that?" he questioned. Starfire grimaced in response and rubbed her biceps nervously.

"N-no, I am believing that th-they thought the Gor-d-danians were te-teleporting away to an-nother ship," she admitted. Which wasn't a completely off basis idea… but then they had to factor in the fact the Gordanians ship had been the only one in the area, not to mention it was grounded so they had nowhere to teleport too, especially since transmats typically had a limit on how far they could reach.

Earth was simply too far from the Citadel for them to be transmitted that far. Not to mention those had been Gordanian Soldiers, who were all implanted with a chip, which disintegrated their bodies when they fell unconscious. It was a precaution taken by their people to prevent them from being interrogated… it was also why no one had thought to retrieve her until Blackfire 'visited' the earth; they likely thought she was dead as well.

00

(Present…)

Raven openly gaped at the alien. She hadn't actually thought about it since they first met Starfire, but the Gordanians hadn't really tried to recapture the girl. Given she was a 'prize' and they should've at least made a token attempted to reclaim her. Instead they had been oddly silent and no one save for Blackfire had bothered to visit her. Still, the fact remained that that meant they had literally slaughtered an entire ship worth of aliens while protecting Starfire and the city…

"We killed _all_ those Gordanians!?" she demanded softly. Starfire blinked and then arched a brow and tilted her head.

"Technically they were committing the suicide," Starfire noted. Raven palmed her face.

"Did we or did we not directly cause the Gordanians to disintegrate?" she questioned firmly. Starfire rolled her eyes in response.

"Yes," she replied bluntly, not bothering to try and soften the blow for the younger girl, "and also stole their ship to build our tower," she remarked with a glance around. Raven twitched at the tidbit, as she hadn't considered that either. _'Not only did we murder dozens of people, but apparently we robbed them too… great, dad would be so proud,'_ she thought sarcastically. She then shook her head and then narrowed her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she demanded hotly. Her eyes flared red before she took several deep-calming breaths. Starfire seemed genuinely confused by this as she looked at Raven askance.

"Did you never wonder where all the bodies went too?" she remarked. Raven had, but she had also simply assumed a teleport was involved, and that the Green Lantern had moved the remaining Gordanians on the ship or else they were taken by Hawk Girl… _'Although with the Thanagarian Gordanian war that'd be a death sentence all its own,'_ she admitted to herself while Starfire looked at her with a sigh.

"Bodies do not normally vanish like they did friend, and transmats have a limited range which we were well outside of for them to reach the Citadel. Further, those were all lesser Gordanian soldiers, relegated to guard duty and the transport of criminals and slaves. The Citadel does not care if they die, they merely add the suicide-chip to prevent them from being captured and interrogated for secrets," she explained with a shrug.

Raven openly stared at the girl; this was honestly a side of her she didn't see very often. She knew at the back of her mind that Starfire was from a warrior people, but it never registered that meant she had a very different mindset when it came to life and death. "D-don't you feel the least bit sorry?" she questioned slowly. Starfire's eyes narrowed.

"Friend Raven, how long do you think I was held by them?" she questioned. Raven blinked and then thought back to when they first met. The girl had been dressed in a style more akin to what Blackfire wore, but she had also seemed… well…

"I don't really know," she admitted after a beat. Starfire inhaled through her nose and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Then I shall tell you," she stated and closed her eyes, "I was twelve of your years old when I was first taken, I had just completed my training with the warlords of Okaara," she noted and saw a question on Raven's face. "It is a tradition for my family, we are sent to train with the warlords at a young age, Blackfire was with me," she admitted and then grimaced as she recalled training with her sister… it had not been fun.

' _I always was the better fighter,'_ she recalled her sister saying back when she visited them. It was true as well, but only because Blackfire was a ruthless fighter who showed no mercy even to her sibling. She would win by any means necessary, which included petty tricks and outright cheating. Judging simply by the way she had behaved when she visited them, Starfire was certain that Blackfire had not changed since then.

"Wait," Raven murmured and openly stared at the redhead, "you weren't even twelve when they trained you to fight?" she demanded incredulously. Raven was from Azarath, which was a land of true peace and the people there were true pacifists. Raven was actually by far the closest thing they had to a 'rebel' in terms of how she thought. Starfire blinked and then tilted her head.

"Yes… is that really so strange?" she questioned. On her world it was common to receive training much earlier. In fact her canorfka Galfore had technically started her training at a much younger age, albeit he focused on the natural abilities of all Tamaraneans, referred to collectively by her people as the 'Gift of X'hol' of which Blackfire lacked. It was only by way of her armor that the dark haired tamaranean could even use her powers.

"I just never thought you were a fully trained warrior," Raven admitted. Starfire blinked in response and then snorted. She then brought a hand to her mouth to cover a giggle.

"Friend I was not and still am not fully trained," she remarked with a shake of her head. "No amount of training makes a warrior, it is the experience that is the true mark of the warrior," she stated sagely. "I was trained due to the traditions of my family line, most Tamaraneans do not receive the wisdom of the Warlords of Okaara," she explained. Raven wondered what the difference was, but decided not to ask.

' _I'm kind of afraid of what else I'll find out about her,'_ she admitted to herself. She then shifted on her spot and cleared her throat. "So you were telling me how long you were taken captive," Raven remarked. She then saw Starfire's face twitch and her eyes close. Raven didn't need to be an empath to realize she'd said something wrong. "Uh… what did I say?" the dark bird questioned slowly. Starfire sighed in response.

"I once told you friend, that I was not prisoner, I was prize," she reminded. "When the Gordanians attacked Tamaran the did so without warning, the bombarded my world from orbit rather than try to fight us where we would have the advantage. My people are not technologically advanced so they made quick work of us. In an effort to stem the carnage my father was forced to surrender to the Gordanians," she explained.

"In exchange for leaving Tamaran in peace, the Gordanians demanded he and all the other kings of Tamaran give up their first born daughters to them," she explained. Raven openly stared at the girl and then sat back.

"But Blackfire is," she muttered. Starfire sighed.

"Blackfire was off world at the time, exploring the galaxy as you likely recall," she explained, Raven did recall that. She'd spent enough time listening to her gush about it when she visited after all. "As such I was taken by the Gordanians, and I have not seen the rest of my family since," the alien powerhouse murmured as she lowered her head and then clenched her fists at her sides.

"I was held for five years, but I am more sorry for the others that were taken. They were all much older than I was at the time, and you can likely imagine the sort of things that were done to them. As for myself, I was put through hard labor until I came of age, at which point they planned to do unspeakable things to me," she continued and then smiled, "until I escaped to Earth and met all of you of course," she remarked.

Raven just winced and looked away. Though a small part of her admitted that it explained a lot about her friends 'naivety'. Such as how Starfire was clueless about the tamaranean 'transformation', which acted almost like puberty for their species. She hadn't really grown up with other Tamaraneans so wouldn't know what to expect from it. She knew of it, but not what it really entailed.

Further, it explained why she didn't really talk about herself. She talked about Tamaran in general, her people's culture and traditions, but not once had Starfire volunteered any kind of personal information about herself. It also explained why she seemed so worried for Cypher despite not really knowing her; she could understand her in a way that none of them possibly could. Raven shook such thoughts off and looked back to her friend.

"So that would be why you were so empathetic to Cypher," Raven also realized. Starfire mutely nodded her head and looked to the side. She rubbed her bicep for a moment and breathed out a sigh.

"I cherish my freedom friend and the freedom of others, if ever I was forced, it is the one thing I would kill for," she admitted. "But I wish no longer to dwell on such depressing thoughts, I have left what happened to me in the past. I would much rather focus on the now and the future instead," the girl explained and smiled brightly. "I have good friends and a wonderful home here after all, why should I think of such badness?" she remarked with a tilt of her head.

Raven just stared at the girl for a moment then looked down. After a beat she looked back up to the older girl. "So you were dealing with the Steel Clan in Gizmo's building," she recalled. Starfire nodded and returned to her story…

00

(20 years in the future…)

"Right… why are you suddenly hotter?" Gizmo wondered with a scratch of his head. A bemused look crossed Starfire's face while the tiny terror turned with a wave of his hand. "Whatever, we still need to get to the generator," he stated. The alien powerhouse nodded her head in response while Gizmo looked down the elevator shaft. He looked up to see that the car had been cut off so they'd need to drop down to get to the generator…

"It is b-being down there y-yes?" she questioned. Gizmo nodded his head.

"Lets drop," he remarked with a sigh. He leaped into the shaft with his spider-legs, followed by the redheaded alien. Starfire fell swiftly then grunted as Gizmo grabbed her with his spider-legs at the appropriate floor. "Here we are," he started and Starfire nodded her head.

"Allow m-me to open the d-door," she offered. She then gripped the doors of the elevator and ripped them open. She then saw a long hallway leading to a massive machine at the end from which a light dimly lit up the room. The machine was sparking wildly and a familiar figure was standing at a console in front of it. "Th-the Cypher!" Starfire declared. Gizmo scowled and then launched himself into the hall and dropped the girl.

"You are so dead bitch!" Gizmo snarled as he leaped at Cypher. However he yelped as a seemingly invisible sword-wielding assailant cut off one of his spider-legs. _'Oh hell nah, I only let one ninja in my place!'_ the tiny terror thought and reached for his goggles and turned them to thermal. _'Please be anything but Thermoptics or Octo-camo,'_ he mentally pleaded. He then grinned as he spotted a bright white figure with his goggles.

"Ha! Pay dirt baby!" he exclaimed and then rapidly typed on his mobile. He fired several projectiles from his backpack that soared around and attached to two figures. Both sparked and became visible as a result. "Bitch that one is yours!" Gizmo shouted with a nudge to the female cyborg. Starfire didn't need further instruction before she lunged at the sword wielding mecha-femme.

Starfire ducked under a swing from the cyborg woman that was aimed at her neck. She turned only to hiss in pain as the cyborg turned swiftly to cut her across the back. With narrowed eyes the tamaranean powerhouse formed a starbolt in both hands. Her assailant crouched back and then lunged forward with another swing. Starfire ducked to the side to avoid a stab from the blade and slammed a starbolt into the cyborgs back.

She was knocked to the side, only to duck into a cartwheel and landed in a low crouch. The Cyborg then twirled her sword and lunged at Starfire once more. She rapidly swung her sword at the redhead, who hissed and grimaced as the cyborg managed to cut her skin a few times. She then shook her head and then knocked the sword to the side and then slammed a Starbolt into the side of her face.

The cyborg stumbled to the side and Starfire leaped into a kick to her head, which knocked her down. The cyborg sluggishly tried to get up but Starfire brought her heel down on her head to hopefully knock her out. The redhead breathed a relieved sigh when the mech-femme didn't get up and instead looked to Cypher…

Meanwhile, Gizmo dodged around the other Cyborg Ninja. He leaped over it with his spiderlegs and cursed as the ninja cut off another of them. _'God dammit those are fucking expensive!'_ he mentally snarled. He stumbled on his remaining spider-legs for a moment, then placed his feet on the ground and used them to block the ninja's sword as he lunged at him. The legs were slowly cut down until only a pair of stumps remained.

Gizmo cursed under his breath and ducked out of the way as the ninja slashed at him. He dropped a cube onto the floor and then smirked as it exploded into a bright flash of light. The ninja didn't seem bothered by the light or as several more Gizmo's appeared. The ninja just tapped the side of his head and then leaped up and lunged at the real one. Gizmo himself gave a scream as the ninja bared down on him.

Thankfully, Starfire intervened.

While the redhead didn't like Gizmo, she wouldn't just watch him die. She lunged at the ninja from the side and rammed her shoulder into him. He was sent skidding to the side while the girl formed her starbolts into her hands. The ninja flipped back onto his feet and lunged at her. The orange skinned girl dodged a swing of the man's sword and then pushed a Starbolt into his sternum that sent him flying high into the air.

Starfire then started to lob starbolts at the ninja with a roar. The Ninja turned in midair to weave around several of the starbolts and then hurled his sword at the girl. Starfire moved to the side, but hissed as the blade cut through her left side. She brought a hand to the wound as it spilled purple blood and growled darkly. The ninja landed on the ground on his feet and lunged at Starfire to retrieve his sword.

However the girl snarled, her eyes gave off a bright luminescent green glow as she formed a massive starbolt into her hands. As she did the ninja formed several shuriken into his hand and made to throw them at her, however paused and shook as Gizmo fired a taser at him from behind. The tiny terror then laughed and ducked out of the way as Starfire hurled her starbolt at him.

The bolt of green energy slammed into the ninja and exploded. The force of the explosion sent him flying back into the far wall. Starfire then grabbed his sword, flipped it up into her hand and hurled it at the ninja. It shot at him and stabbed him through the shoulder, pinning him to the wall and causing him to spark wildly. Starfire waited for the ninja to get back up and attack again, but he thankfully remained pinned.

Starfire breathed a relieved sigh at that and turned to Gizmo with a hand to her injured side. She noticed the tiny terror was heading for Cypher and followed after him, however she turned at a sound and found Red-X and a third ninja. The masked thief had blocked a sword aimed at her head with both hands. He narrowed his eyes on the ninja, which had no visible gender, and snapped his sword with his hands.

The thief then stabbed the shard of sword it into the cyborg's neck before he slammed a Rasengan into its sternum and sent it flying back into a wall. It shook and sparked wildly as the ball of swirling energy didn't stop however as it eventually ground through the cyborg's sternum and left a large hole in its torso. Naruto silently cracked his neck after that and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fucking ninja wannabes," he muttered with a shake of his head, "bad enough I had to deal with a kami damned ghost that ran away just when I started winning, but I find out we've got fucking ninja wannabes running around as well?" he grumbled then threw his hands into the air, "Fuck my life I hate this shit!" he exclaimed. He then inhaled a breath and exhaled out a sigh. He then shook his head and glanced at Starfire.

"You okay there cutie?" he questioned. The girl silently nodded her head, though wondered about the ball of light he'd hit the ninja with. "Good, then lets get Giz and deal with Cypher," he noted with a nod to the side. Starfire nodded in agreement and they went to join with Gizmo. The tiny terror muttered as he marched towards Cypher, he paused only to glare at Naruto and Starfire, and then continued onwards.

They walked together as they approached Cypher from behind. Naruto was the first to approach and tapped her side, which caused her body to fall over. Her arms still moved as if she was typing on a console and Naruto felt his eye twitch in irritation. "What the fuck, did she run away too!?" he demanded. Gizmo grunted in response as he hopped to work on the console to get their power back online.

"Fucking fuckity fuck fuck fuck," Gizmo muttered as he worked. Naruto dropped down by Cypher and then quickly pried open the back of her head, only to scowl. The mass of wires and bits of tech he could see inside were completely different to what'd been inside the other Cypher. That meant only one thing and it irritated the hell out of the thief.

"It's a fucking drone," he noted. Gizmo grunted in response and continued to work.

"Th-then the Cypher was n-not really here?" Starfire questioned in clear confusion. Naruto grunted in response and shoved the drone to the side.

"No she was definitely here, but she got what she wanted and left these others behind to distract us while she escaped," he replied with a scowl. He then shook his head and walked over to the girl to use the Shosen jutsu on her for her injuries. As he did Gizmo chuckled as the power suddenly came back on, fully lighting up the otherwise dimly lit room. Starfire glanced around for a moment then watched Gizmo sigh in relief.

"The powers back online, the security is hopefully dealing with whatever few assholes are still around," he muttered then raised a hand. He formed a holographic display and started to type on a few buttons. "I'm gonna have to wipe the entire fucking system to get rid of Cypher's ghosts after this, I just know it," he grumbled irritably. Naruto shook his head in response as he finished patching up Starfire. He then patted her shoulder gently.

"Better?" he questioned. The girl silently nodded her head. "Good," the man responded and looked to his friend. "Giz I'm taking the cutie to find a change of clothes and get cleaned up," he stated. Gizmo waved him off.

"Whatever Temp, I'm busy," he remarked distractedly. Naruto smirked.

"Right, just be sure to check around for whatever Cypher lifted from us while we're gone," he ordered. Gizmo raised a hand to flip the bird at his friend and Naruto shook his head. He then turned to Starfire and placed a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, lets get you cleaned up," he offered. Starfire glanced down at herself with a grimace and nodded in agreement. Between several days in the same clothes and all the sweat and blood she was covered in, she'd be grateful for a shower…

00

(Later…)

Naruto idly sifted through the clothes in his closet as Starfire showered in his bathroom. On normal circumstances it'd be weird that he had women's clothes in his closet, but truth be told most of them belonged to former girlfriends. Some from Raven, some from Blackfire, and oddly enough even some from Duela. Despite the fact he and Duela had never gone beyond flirting… she'd still decided to dump some of her old clothes in his closet, he swore she only did it to mess with him.

' _I will never understand that girl,'_ he admitted to himself with a shake of his head. He hadn't seen the crazed clown in a little over five years actually. The last time they had worked together Duela had been oddly… quiet, not too long after that she'd just seized up and gone immobile. He'd taken her to a hospital but she hadn't moved in all the time she'd been there, essentially being comatose.

' _I hope she's okay,'_ Naruto admitted to himself. While they were only friends he did care for the crazy redhead's safety. He also admitted she'd helped him deal with a few of his issues over the years, mostly the death and then rebirth of Raven which screwed with his head something fierce at the time. He shook his head of such thoughts and focused on finding something for Starfire to wear.

He mainly stuck with Blackfire's old threads since he knew she was roughly the same size as her older sister. _'Although Blackie did fill out a bit more in the long run,'_ the blond admitted to himself. He knew this from personal and intimate experience. Thankfully Blackfire's clothes were all essentially one size fits all. He shook his head of such thoughts and frowned as he went back to looking through Blackfire's old clothes.

She of course favored black and even white for some reason, with a few shades of grey and blue thrown in. The extremely rare few purple clothes that she had were from when she was going through a phase. Naruto remembered that Blackfire had heard that purple was the color of royalty on Earth and so, being a queen, she thought it'd make her look more royal or something if she wore purple instead of black.

Needless to say, the phase passed relatively quickly, but she'd left a few purple clothes with him as a result. Unfortunately, by that point Blackfire was also experimenting with her look in the extreme. She'd gone from the simple outfit of the past to one with pants and spiked armor, one that was literally nothing but a cape and skin-tight curve-hugging body suit, one that was made of chitin, and a few that were just bizarre in his opinion.

' _I'll give Blackie this, she was really open to experimenting,'_ the blond inwardly noted and snickered to himself, _'in more ways than one,'_ he mused. He then shook his head to rid him of such thoughts. He and Blackie hadn't really parted on the best of terms, in his opinion anyway. She'd actually been genuinely hurt that he dumped her; it wasn't something he was used too from her either…

But in his defense, he'd left her because the girl had done some pretty horrible things.

He paused his thoughts as he found a few purple clothes that'd suit Starfire. He checked around but frowned when he couldn't find any skirts or pants for the outfit in question. _'Of course Blackie wouldn't have any of those in purple,'_ he inwardly remarked. Then again Tamaraneans were extremely comfortable in their skin. Hell, he'd seen a few who wore next to nothing without a care in the world…

He was so retiring to tamaran some day.

He shook his head of such thoughts and walked out of his closet with the bundle of clothes, though grabbed some long purple boots on his way out. As he walked out he idly noted that the sound of the shower had ceased, so Starfire would likely be out soon. That gave the thief a moment to pause as he wondered something, _'Did Kara-Chan ever explain to her that she shouldn't walk around in the nude?'_

He only wondered because Tamaraneans had communal bathing and saw one another in the nude all the time. They literally had no nudity taboo and he wondered if that had ever been a problem. If so then hopefully Raven had explained it well, or at least told her not to walk around in the buff. If she hadn't then… well it wasn't like Blackfire hadn't done the same thing all the damn time.

Then again Blackfire had shared numerous showers and bathes with him without anything perverted being involved. She was literally unaware that it wasn't normal to openly bathe together like that. Despite being more mature than Starfire, Blackfire was still a Tamaranean. She hid her confusion on some subjects better than Starfire, but she had occasionally asked him why Earthlings did certain things.

Idly the blond checked around to make sure he'd put away all of his photos. Cute as Starfire was, he wasn't about to blow his secret identity to her before she'd eventually met him in the past. It was probably the only reason he'd worn his suit as long as he had, though admittedly he'd had a few moments to breathe. Starfire passing out had been the last time he'd taken the suit off.

He paused his thoughts as he noticed a message from Gizmo.

"Talk to me," he stated with his fingers pressed to his earpiece.

(I've shut off the computers Temp, we have Ghosts out the wazoo and I'll need some help to clean 'em,) the tiny terror admitted. Naruto frowned in response, although that at least gave them an excuse to call on Oracle and Red-Arrow to help clear their system. (Anyways, I did check around as well, and it looks like Cypher lifted Warp's palm-top and the flash-drive you and the bitch picked up,) he explained.

"Did she get her chit back too?" Naruto questioned with a frown. If he'd been the robo-hacker that'd be the first thing he'd get back. Then again he wasn't any good at cyber warfare so maybe it wasn't a good idea.

(Nah, I had that with me,) the tiny terror replied. Naruto hummed in response and glanced up as he rubbed his chin.

"Why would she want those things then?" he wondered aloud. He idly glanced to the side as the bathroom door opened. Starfire walked out with a towel in her hands to dry her hair and not a stitch more… He shot a look at the girl and she blinked.

"I was not finding the robe anywhere," she stated as if it explained everything. Naruto palmed his face with a groan. Well at least that explained how they got around her walking around naked. Still, _'Kara-Chan you're seriously dropping the ball here,'_ he thought briefly then tossed the redhead the clothes he'd found for her. She caught them and Naruto turned away from her to focus on what Gizmo was telling him.

(I don't know why she took 'em. Ask those goddamned fucktards that control her if you want to know. I still have most of the data from the palm-top saved on a closed server, but I never really got a chance to de-encrypt the flash-drive and find out what was on it,) Gizmo replied. Naruto hummed in response and closed his eyes. Behind him Starfire had started to pull on her clothes, though stared at him with a curious frown.

"So do you think that whatever she wanted was on the flash-drive?" he questioned. However Gizmo grunted in response.

(I don't know Temp, I just know she lifted them, not why she did it,) he responded. Naruto muttered quietly and then palmed his face. It didn't help having his mask on but it was force of habit at this point.

"Right… guess that means we're going to be paying them a visit," he remarked. Starfire blinked and arched a brow curiously.

(Temp you know that that's a bad idea, last time you tried it they decided it'd be fun to sic fucking Hammer and Sickle on me,) Gizmo reminded with a shudder. Naruto did remember and it made him frown in response. Hammer and Sickle were Russian agents given powers by a paramilitary group bent on restoring the socialist regime. They were also former classmates of theirs, but then again, so was Cypher…

"Gizmo are you going to get in touch with Oracle to help clean the systems," he questioned. He heard a snort from the other end.

(Do you mean am I going to call the hot red head to help clean the system while I ogle her?) he asked sarcastically, (is that a fucking rhetorical question Tempest? Of course I'm going to fucking call her!) he declared with a grin in his voice. Naruto rolled his eyes and frowned.

"She's married," he deadpanned.

(She's still fucking hot,) Gizmo replied with a grin.

"Whatever," the blond responded, "Anyways since you're obviously calling her I need you to call the Outlaws in as well," he replied. He heard Gizmo groan in response and narrowed his eyes. "Giz do not start with me, the Outlaws have Roy and he's good with computers," the blond reminded but Gizmo grumbled in response.

(Temp you know that I fucking hate dealing with those assholes!) he snarled. He hated dealing with the Outlaws; well he was fine with all but one of them. Jason was okay, he and Cheshire knew not to bother one another, and Xyannis was basically sex on legs and he liked looking at her for obvious reasons. So more specifically, he couldn't stand Roy Harper, AKA Red-Arrow. The fucker seemed to think he was smarter than him!

Unfortunately he'd managed to prove it a couple of times as well… the bastard…

"Giz swallow your pride and get it done," Naruto ordered. He then narrowed his eyes dangerously. "The assholes who control Cypher clearly wanted Warp's stuff, and if they wanted Warp's stuff, what else do you think they'd want?" the blond questioned with a frown on his face.

(Wait, are you telling me you think they have Warp? How in fucks name do you think they managed that?) he demanded. Naruto snorted in response and narrowed his eyes.

"They got Cypher didn't they?" he remarked in return. Gizmo made a noise of agreement while the blond narrowed his eyes. "Besides that, Warp's the only one who knows how any of his tech really works Giz, given they went through all this trouble just to grab data his work then I wouldn't be surprised if they have him under lock and key or something," the blond replied. It also didn't hurt that it'd explain where the man had been for all this time.

If anyone could keep Warp in captivity it was definitely the H.I.V.E.

(Right… I guess that makes sense,) Gizmo admitted. Grab Warp then grab his research and force him to use it for whatever goals they had in mind this time. Granted that Warp was a man who built a time machine and those goals could literally be just about anything. (So we're calling the Outlaws to go to war then?) the tiny terror guessed. Naruto hummed his ascent and glanced at Starfire.

Her 'new' outfit was a long sleeved high necked zip-up purple shirt with holes cut at the shoulders and chest with a green gemstone at her collarbone, a pair of simple purple briefs with a grey belt around her waist with a green gemstone, a pair of simple grey wrist protectors, and thigh length purple boots. Overall it wasn't too terribly different from her usual outfit, though of course it lacked her miniskirt.

' _Not that the lack of a skirt actually makes too much of a difference in the long run,'_ Naruto admitted to himself. It had just been a mini-skirt after all. He also noticed that the girl had found the display cases for all of his old suits and had focused on one of them in particular. He ignored that for the moment and replied to Gizmo's question. "Yeah we're going to war Giz, it's high time we taught those assholes not to fuck with us anymore," he replied and Gizmo snickered to himself.

(Almost makes me wish that the others were around to join in,) he remarked. Naruto made a noise of agreement and then cut the connection. He then walked over to Starfire and glanced at the suit she was staring at. It was the most beat up of all his suits, being torn, scorched, and cut in several places. The mask was even cracked, and Naruto recalled how that happened…

He shook such thoughts from his head and placed a hand on Starfire's shoulder. She started and turned to him and he turned to the suit. "That's my first suit," he remarked and then placed a hand to the display case. It gave a hiss as he pulled the glass door open and reached for the helmet from the suit. He then placed his fingers between the teeth and pried it open a few moments later to show the crushed red glass beneath it.

"I had a little… accident and needed to get it replaced," he remarked with a frown. He had been lucky he hadn't lost an eye from that shit… or worse now that he stopped to think about it. He shook his head at the thought and put the helmet back into the display and closed it. "So how do the clothes feel?" he questioned. Starfire blinked and then looked down at herself, before she smiled.

"They are fitting quite well," she replied. Naruto couldn't help but feel glad her stutter had finally gone away. He then noticed the girl glance down at her clothes and pull on the shirt for a moment before she looked back up to him. "Although I question why you had clothes that fit me," she admitted with a frown. Naruto idly hummed and crossed his arms behind his neck.

"They used to belong to your sister," he remarked. Starfire blinked then glanced down at the purple clothes and looked at him with a confused frown. "She had a phase where she thought wearing purple would make her look more royal," he admitted. Starfire made an 'oh' with her mouth and rolled her eyes. That did sound like Blackfire after all.

"Anyways cutie, we're going to have some guests over soon Cutie," he remarked and the girl tilted her head to the side.

"What is happening?" she questioned.

"We're calling in some back up, seeing as we're about to go pay the ones who sent Cypher after us a little visit," he responded. Starfire blinked and then narrowed her eyes.

"Ah, I see," she replied and then realized something, "but you have yet to tell me who it is that controls the Cypher," she remarked. Naruto hummed in response and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You already know them, or at least you know of them. They're known as the Hierarchy of Vengeance and Elimination," he remarked and then glanced at her with narrowed eyes. "Better known, as the H.I.V.E.," he noted with a scowl. Starfire widened her eyes and then shook her head.

"But the Gizmo," she remarked and Naruto snorted.

"Was part of the 'H.A.Y.E.P.' or H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People," the blond responded, "The H.I.V.E. set the place up as a legitimate school for meta's, with government funding in exchange for soldiers, they also used it to recruit promising students into their organization, while most of the rest went to work as either villains or mercenaries. It's also how they got Cypher," the blond explained.

"I see," Starfire remarked darkly. She would certainly have to remember that when she returned to the past. If for no other reason then so she could dismantle the H.I.V.E. as quickly as possible.

"Anyways we need to meet up with Gizmo before the Outlaws get her," the blond noted then chuckled, "something tells me you and Goldie will have a lot to talk about," he remarked with a smirk. Although he also hoped that the two didn't get into a fight… that had happened between Blackie and Goldie after all. While amusing to watch it was also not something he wanted a repeat performance of.

He paused his thoughts and glanced at the girl as she held his wrist.

"I agree," she admitted and then sighed, "However I fear that I have been quite rude to you and have realized that you did not deserve it," she noted and bowed her eyes. "So I ask that you please forgive me for my rudeness to you friend," she pleaded. Naruto arched a brow then shrugged his shoulders.

"It's no problem, I know that Tamaraneans are always pretty emotional about things," he remarked with a shrug. He then marched out of the room, only to pause at his doorway and turn to the girl. "Hell, to be perfectly honest, Komand'r wasn't much better," he remarked as he walked away. Starfire blinked for a moment and then followed behind the masked blond…

00

(Titans Tower…)

Starfire and Raven sat across from one another, the alien lost in thought while the dark bird frowned. "Komand'r?" she questioned. It sounded like 'Commander' but she was fairly certain it wasn't what had actually been said. "Also, do you still have that outfit?" she questioned. If the girl did then it was proof that she'd been lying about the future…

"Komand'r is Blackfire's name when spoken in the Tamaranean tongue," Starfire responded, "and yes I do still have the outfit, but I was told to change before I returned to this time," she admitted. She wasn't sure why but they hadn't thought it was a good idea for the young Titans to worry about the future. While Starfire had prevented Cypher's fall, it was through the most simplistic way possible, essentially all she'd had to do was get her uncle to pull her from the H.A.Y.E.P. ahead of time.

Though it was still surprising to her that Cypher's uncle happened to be Killer Moth…

"So what happened next?" Raven questioned. She was honestly curious about what had happened in the future. Although the fact she learned more about Starfire than X thus far was kind of a surprise. _'As is all that stuff about her home,'_ she admitted to herself. It certainly explained why she didn't like to talk about herself. Which was ironic now that she thought about it, she probably knew more about Robin than she did Starfire.

However Starfire yawned, breaking her from her thoughts, then stretched out her arms into the air. She smacked her lips and glanced to Raven's window. The curtains were drawn closed but it was clear that it was getting late. Starfire turned back to her friend with an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me friend Raven," she began and then placed her feet onto the ground. "But I am afraid that it is getting rather late and I am needing the sleep," she explained. She then strode over to the younger girl and wrapped her in a hug. "But we shall certainly continue with the story later dear friend," she declared then shot off out of the room. Raven watched her leave and then crossed her arms with a pout.

She honestly hated it when she couldn't finish a story she was into…

As for Starfire, the redhead flew the halls of Titans Tower and smiled to herself. Telling the story of what happened in the future felt good. It helped her to remember not only what happened, but also the friends she made in that future. Sure she and X had a bit of a rocky start, but she felt they had become good friends by the end of it all. Starfire smiled at the memory as she moved into her room to prepare for bed.

As she did a black clad thief looked down at her door from within a vent. Following the girl had been the only way he'd been able to continue listening to her 'story' to Raven. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be able to hang out in the vents all night to listen for the next part of it. _'Pity that, I'm starting to like older me,'_ he admitted to himself. He certainly had a newfound respect for the 'cutie' if nothing else.

He shook his head and started to quietly move through the vents. He was thankful that the titans still hadn't put in any motion sensors. _'Kid or Stone-head really need to get on the ball,'_ he thought to himself. He made his way to the roof and looked out for a moment, then vanished in a static flash. He reappeared in Jump City proper and turned to look at Titans Tower from across the bay.

' _Well, that's my excitement for the night,'_ he thought to himself. He then vanished once more and reappeared outside of his apartment. With a sudden nod of his head, the thief slipped into his apartment, only to be bowled over by a green ball of swears.

"Do you have any fucking idea how long we've been looking for you Temp?" the tiny terror known as Gizmo demanded. X arched a brow at the 'we' bit then turned to the side to see Mammoth leaning into the wall. He raised a hand in greeting to the burly teen, who in turn returned the gesture. "Focus!" Gizmo demanded as he forcibly turned Naruto's head to face him. Naruto rolled his eyes in response.

"Giz calm down," he ordered. Gizmo growled at him but he picked him up off of himself and stood up. Gizmo started to swear violent retribution as Naruto brushed off his suit and then looked at his friend with a frown. "Okay now what's got you all in a tizzy?" he questioned. The tiny terror crossed his arms and growled low in his throat.

"Jinx is fucking missing ass hat!" he snarled. Naruto paused and looked at him in concern. Jinx was his friend, sure they didn't hang out much since he ditched the H.I.V.E. but that didn't mean he didn't still consider the old gang his friends.

"What happened?" he questioned. Gizmo gave him a scathing look and he sat him down with a roll of his eyes. Gizmo started to mutter curses under his breath and then pulled out a disk. From the disk a holographic map of Jump City was formed.

"The Headmaster sent her on a job in town. She didn't report in for a while, but since it was such a simple job I figured she was just running late. Now it's almost been a day and Mammoth is getting worried about her," Gizmo began, Naruto watched as he formed a pink triangle over a building in the west side of Jump. Before Gizmo could continue Mammoth stepped forward and knelt down.

"She went to deliver a flash drive to some H.I.V.E. Agents downtown," he stated. Naruto narrowed his eyes on the map while Mammoth continued. "That was about twenty hours ago and we still haven't heard back from her," he explained concisely. Gizmo grunted then nodded his head. Naruto reached up a hand to rub his chin as he looked at the map and mentally did a few calculations.

' _Time to leave their place and get back, roughly two hours if she didn't make any stops,'_ he noted to himself. _'Lets see, anywhere of interest between the two that would keep her busy? No, nothing that she likes anyways, no museums to case, no jewelry stores, nothing that would interest her,'_ he continued. _'So she had nothing that would hold her up, she really should've been back hours ago,'_ he noted and clicked his tongue.

"Alright," he began with narrowed eyes, "this reeks of foul play, I'm going to go check these guys out and look for Jinx," he stated. However Gizmo waved his arms wildly.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" he demanded, "These are real H.I.V.E. Agents temp, genuine grade A bad ass assassins! Even Mammoth can't make these guys flinch and he's fucking huge! Do you honestly think you can intimidate fuckers like them?!" he demanded. Naruto merely smirked in response.

"Oh ye of little faith," he stated and playfully patted Gizmo on the head. The tiny terror growled and snarled at his friend while Mammoth chuckled to himself. Gizmo tore the older teen's hand from his head and Naruto stepped back towards his window. "In case you've forgotten," the masked blond began as he half stepped out of his window, "I have my ways," he stated and then vanished in a static flash…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

AN: Yes, the outfit Starfire wore in the future is in fact based on Starfire's outfit in New 52, not the Red-Hood and the Outlaws version but the one from her own 12 issue solo series, it just felt like something the TT version of Starfire would actually wear if given a chance. As for the 'lack' of a nudity taboo, that's just a Tamaranean thing, though I also assume that Raven got her the robe she wears and told her it was an earth custom to wear it, but didn't bother to explain you weren't supposed to walk around naked if you didn't have one.

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A grinning face appears, bright red lips, chalk white skin, bright purple eyes, and short / messy fire truck red hair. The face belongs to a girl who briefly giggles as she straightens out her purple jacket and then leans back in a leather chair. "Hello Internet! Welcome to Game Theory!" she declared jocularly then giggled. "Oh wait, that's not me!" she noted and then covered her mouth as she laughed once more.

After a moment she breathed a sigh of relief and wiped a mock tear from her eye. She then turned to the 'camera' with a wide manic grin on her face. "Hello readers and reviewers!" she exclaimed with her arms stretched wide, "Guess what guys?" she questioned with a wide grin, "I'm BAAACCCKKK!" she exclaimed and then leaned back to hold her stomach with a giggle.

"Oh boy," she murmured with a smile, "It's so great to be able to do the fourth wall breaking I know you missed from the other stories," she remarked and then pouted. "But the author insists that it'd be too distracting if I do it during the main story for some reason, so he's decided that I can have the AN's to play around in so that no one will get all butt hurt about me stealing Deadpool's shtick or something," she remarked. She then pushed her chair back with a hum as she stared at the ceiling.

"Oh well," she sighed and then smiled brightly. "Seeing as I'm in charge of all AN's from now on I get to be the one to reply to all your reviews!" she exclaimed as she happily threw her arms into the air. She then leaned forward with a wide grin and gripped the sides of the camera, "Isn't that just awesome?" she questioned. She listened for a moment and then pouted when no one replied to her.

She blew a breath into her messy bangs and leaned back in her seat.

"Oh fine, I know you guys can't talk to me in real time, but at least be enthusiastic," she remarked with a twinkle in her eyes. "Anyways lets start things off with the first ever Duela answered review!" she declared as she threw her arms and legs out with a giggle. She then yelped as she fell back and out of her chair. "I'm okay!" she exclaimed then sat up and started to type on a nearby computer. "First up is…" she mumbled to herself.

" **DarkLord98**! Hi there, and thanks for being so enthusiastic to see me again," the redhead declared with a cheerful wave. " **Also, is it just me, or does it seem like Duela remembers the old fanfic?** Anyways yes, yes I do remember the old fic, but it'll be more subtle in the main story, meanwhile when I'm in the AN I'm allowed to have free reign of my memories, basically think of it as me being alone in my room talking to myself," she explained with a nod.

"Next up, **DannyPhantom619** asks ' **Do you do harems?** '" Duela paused and then snickered to herself. "He's a red blooded heterosexual male so I'd certainly hope so!" she stated with a laugh. She then patted her chest as she calmed down. "Might want to word that differently next time bucko! Anyways, yes he's written harem stories before, but he's not sure if it'd fit this one in the long run or if another triad pairing will be good or not," she noted with a shrug then moved on, only to sigh and cover her face dramatically.

"Oh **DragonPony022** , I just have to say that I'm nothing like my dad," Duela began and then frowned, "the jackass," she grumbled then smiled brightly. "I'm more closely modeled after the original Duela, not the one you see in New 52. Fun fact about her and me, we dated Richard for a while!" she declared and then snickered to herself. "No seriously, the original Duela and Dick Grayson dated for a little while when he was going to Gotham Academy, we're even the same age, funny huh?"

The girl then leaned forward and stage whispers to the camera.

"So yeah here's another fun fact I find totally hilarious is that he's dated me, a redhead, Barbara Gordon, another redhead, and Starfire, yet another redhead, so yeah, he's got a major thing for redheads!" she noted and then snickered to herself as she turned and spun around for a moment in her leather chair. "Now to **PFMF** , **FateBurn** , **prototype gear** , and anyone else who missed me so much but didn't review," she began then sniffled and looked to the camera with teary eyes.

"I'm so glad you all missed me so much," she remarked with another sniffle and wiped at her eyes, "It feels so wonderful to be loved! I mean the authors of the original comics just hated me and had me killed off because they didn't know how to deal with me, then they replaced me with Harley Quinn and I didn't even get a backstory until I was already dead, yeah… it's so nice to feel the love for once," she noted and then wiped at her eyes. "Uh anyways," she remarked as she returned to her computer.

" **nightmaster000** , wow, everyone is really showing me the love! Anyways, this chapter answered more than a few of your questions already, now didn't it? As for gimme a break and the living zoo, well we'll see how things go from here, but with Kori saving her cousin from a fate literally worse than death who knows!" She noted with a shrug of her shoulders and then started to hum a tune to herself.

"Oh and Masquerade is an OC, Cypher 0.3 and her original self also are, and technically you can kind of count me as one in a way. Or maybe I should just be considered as a re-imagining of my character. I'm not the same as the original Pre-Flashpoint Duela, nor am I like the Ami-Comi version, the Bombshells version, or the New 52 version. I'm a variant created by the author because he could never find any definitive info on the actual character," Duela explained then hummed with a shrug.

"But he doesn't think he can do other people's OC's justice and tries not to write 'em, so sorry but thems the breaks. Maybe in the future he'll reconsider, but for the moment he's a little shy about that kind of thing. It takes a lot to convince him to do almost anything…" she noted then frowned, "trust me, I know from experience," she stated with a stiff nod, then snorted and snickered to herself.

"Again, glad to be back, and there's actually a reason for that **Shinku Ryuuga** , a few have actually used me in their stories, but typically they model me more closely on the Pre-Flashpoint Duela from the early comics. The Author ironically had no access to those comics when he originally wrote me, so I ended up becoming a more own unique variant of the 'Duela' slash Joker's Daughter character in general," she noted with a shrug.

"So the reason you've never seen 'me', as in the way I act in Lord-Pain's stories, anywhere else is because I'm kind of his version of me," she remarked and then hummed quietly. "Although since he's read about other versions of me expect at least a few hints of them in me," she remarked. She then reached to the side to pick up a dapper looking top hat with a bow / ribbon around it, which she then plopped onto her head with a wink.

"Well **Guest** , I think I answered your question about which version of me I am with the above," Duela remarked with a mad twinkle in her eyes. She then propped her spat clad feet on the table next to her computer and stretched her arms over her head. "That's a good question **Cerulean Knight** , technically he's both. Naruto's species appear to be descended from both Oni and the Shinju, not monkeys like me," the girl replied.

"Oh **Kiue Jin** , ye of so little faith," Duela remarked with a shake of her head and took her top hat off to place it against her breast. "I promise you I have plans, but," she noted with a raised finger, "they certainly won't be a rip off of dear old dad's idea," she stated with a firm nod of her head. She then turned to her computer and noticed the next entry, which she then grinned at the camera once more.

"To **Noctus Of The Thousand Blades** , the Author wanted me to personally address you and say he knows how that feels. Ironically it just hit him one day that he wanted to post this story and suddenly he felt energized again!" the girl declared. "While he isn't sure if that would help you as well, he does want me to say that he's hoping you keep at it and find your muse again," the girl stated cheerfully, eyes closed as she held up a revolver.

"Meanwhile I'll literally be holding a gun to my authors head to keep him going!" she noted with a click of the hammer. " **PugTheMagician** , wow I get so much love lately, it's like you people actually like me!" the girl declared and accidentally shot her revolver at the cieling. She looked up and then blinked as she held up the gun. "Huh… should've put the safety on," she remarked and tossed the gun to the side…

Which of course caused it to fire again.

The crazy clown girl yelped and hopped out of her seat in response to the sudden loud bang. She glanced at the revolver for a moment then cautiously sat back down in her chair. She then cleared her throat and straightened her purple jacket, then checked to make sure her orange corset was on straight. Finally she turned back to the camera with a smile on her face.

"Well anyways, **Nox733** , the author hasn't decided if he wants to try and continue the original one or not, part of him does, but another part feels like it'd be difficult to get back into the mindset he had when he first wrote it. Which is probably why he made this redux when you think about it," the girl noted with a shrug of her shoulders, "I'm just saying… wait, how do you spell Saiyen?" the girl wondered with a tap of her chin.

"Well anyways, only time for one more so lets see now…" she remarked as she looked over her computer screen. She then placed a hand over her eyes and randomly pointed at the screen. She looked at the screen between her fingers and frowned. "Nope, doesn't work," she muttered to herself and then closed her fingers to hide her vision as she started to point once more.

"Eennie meanie minie moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he yells, let him go, eenie, meanie, minie, moe!" she declared and then checked once more. With a grin she turned back to her camera and crossed her arms behind her head. "Finally to **ortizale317** , the author hasn't decided, he also figured most people would think I'd be too crazy to date Naruto or just wouldn't like the idea in general," she remarked with a shrug then leaned forward to stage whisper once more. "Although that didn't stop me and Richard huh?" she noted then sat back with a snicker.

With a brief sigh of relief she then leaned back in her chair and yawned. "Well I guess that's all for now folks," she mused to herself and offered a mock wave. "Till next time readers and reviewers, this is Duela saying 'Peace'!" she declared as she raised her hands to form two peace signs in the air. However she ended up kicking her camera in the process knocking it over and causing the lens to crack.

"Uuh… oopsies," she murmured as she came back into view, "whelp, I better get this fixed before the next chapter releases, so till then, bye bye now!" she stated and turned the camera off…

00


	5. Past and Present PT1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 4**_ : _**Past and Present Pt. 1**_ …

00

(Jump City, West Side…)

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto didn't often do things for free anymore. No, if you wanted him for a job you had to pay. Typically his prices were moderate, and he often refused to take jobs that'd take him out of the city. Despite the few setbacks this had caused him, he'd found that the mercenary life truly suited him. He got paid to do what he was good at, he made his own hours, and no one told him what to do.

Even so, Gizmo and Mammoth were friends of his and so it was only fair that he do them a solid every now and then. It also didn't hurt that Gizmo had been the one who built his suit, with some minor help, so that definitely counted for something. As for Mammoth, well, he kind of owed the big guy for the knocks he'd given him when they first met and Shimmer would probably be pissed if he ignored the big lug.

Added onto that was that Jinx was also his friend, and a good one at that.

This wasn't solely because the very thin girl looked a lot like his once teammate Haruno Sakura. Jinx was just a good friend of his; she'd been the one to really help him learn to speak English after all. He paused his thoughts as he spotted a familiar dive bar on the street below. He inwardly chuckled as the memories of his first meeting with the Troika came to the forefront of his mind…

00

(Flashback…)

Naruto had been in Jump City for a little under a month. In that time he'd figured out that he was most assuredly not anywhere near the Elemental Nations anymore. Further, he had no earthly idea what seal he'd screwed up on the jutsu he'd used to get to this new place, so had even less of an idea on how to reverse it. So rather than mope about it, he'd explored the city and found a library.

After he'd explored that library he'd found a Japanese to English dictionary to help him learn the local language. This was actually proving to be more difficult than he'd originally anticipated. Even with the few dozen shadow clones he left behind to read the notes he'd made to help try and speed up the process. It was mostly because he didn't know how to sound out the words…

He paused and then shook off such thoughts.

Still he looked through the book with a frown. He had had to steal the damn thing from the library as well. Although in his defense it didn't look like the book had seen the light of day for a long time so likely wouldn't be missed. The blond idly scratched at his hair as he made his way to a small out of the way dive bar. It was in the 'bad part' of Jump City, though it was nothing like the red light district back in Konoha.

The owner of the bar was an older lady who was a bit sweet on him and fed him whenever he stopped by. Naruto was not one to complain about the kindness of strangers, nor was he going to turn down a free meal, so he made a point to visit fairly often. The blond haired teen glanced up from his book as he passed into the bar. The lady at the counter gave a friendly wave and he raised his hand.

"Ohayo baa-chan," he stated distractedly as he looked at the book. He paused then squinted his eyes as he tried to pronounce the words he needed. "G-good d-day," he tried and then frowned deeply. That seemed right, but he was certain it was wrong somehow. The older woman glanced at him with a shake of her head.

"It's good morning," she stated plainly. Naruto blinked and then chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ano, Gomen'nasai," he stated with a bow of his head. The woman smiled and shook her head.

"Your lucky your cute kid," she remarked and then turned to collect something from the kitchen. As she did Naruto looked back to his book with a frown. He knew a handful of words thus far, but all that allowed him was half a sentence at best. _'Why can't these people speak normal?'_ he wondered to himself with narrowed eyes. He wasn't trying to be mean, it just felt weird that no one could understand him.

He idly noticed as the older woman placed a tray of chicken wings down and grinned. "Arigato!" he declared brightly. The older woman chuckled with a smile and returned to her rounds as he continued to look at his book. The door opened with the soft jangle of a bell but was ignored by the blond as he tried to sound out a word that started with s. "S-souv-van-ner… souvenir?" he muttered quietly to himself in a questioning tone.

He idly read the meaning of the word to himself and reached for his food.

He blinked when he couldn't find it. He looked up from his book to see his food was gone and turned to see a tall teen beside of him and eating his food. He meant tall as in literally mountain sized and covered in hair with shaggy auburn hair on his head with a goatee dressed in an odd black outfit with a yellow H design on his chest… or was it an M, he wasn't really sure which, as it was kind of elongated and shaped weird.

"What?" the big guy questioned. Naruto narrowed his eyes and pointed at the wings. "What of it?" he questioned then leaned forward and flicked the blond's nose. "What you gonna do about it tiny?" he questioned. Naruto narrowed his eyes then reached up and grabbed the big guy's wrist. He then turned and flipped the man onto his back. The big guy looked up with a blink while Naruto caught his food with a grin.

"Itadakimasu!" he stated as he ate one of the wings. However he grunted as the big guy kicked him off of his feet. He caught his wings regardless and then looked at the auburn haired giant with narrowed eyes. Said titanic teen stood up and started to crack his knuckles with a scowl.

"Alright blondie, you want a fight and Mammoth's ready to oblige," the big guy commented darkly. The blond gave a bemused look as he considered whether or not it was worth it to teach him a lesson. His stomach gave a growl a moment later and his decision was made…

00

(Outside…)

Jill Manx, better known as simply Jinx, sat with her 'friend' one Mikron O'Jeneus Junior, better known as Gizmo. She used the term 'friend' somewhat loosely as they were only classmates and teammates because the school liked to put her with him and their other 'friend' Baran Flinders, the Australian born juggernaut known as Mammoth. It was a good team up, she admitted, but she really wished her they had more drive.

Gizmo was currently fiddling with the control of his backpack, which housed numerous weapons and gadgets. Normally, that was all the tiny terror did. He liked to fiddle with a bunch of useless parts and rarely did he make something worthy of note for anyone else but himself. She knew he could do so if he wanted too, he just didn't seem to care how far in the tech-world he could go so long as he got to play with his… err… gizmos.

Mammoth was slightly better, but he was often too busy stuffing his face or worrying about his little sister, Selinda Flinders or 'Shimmer', to care about getting better. Granted, with a power like the ability to alchemically alter the elemental makeup of things, he had a good reason to worry. Jinx could quite easily imagine having Shimmer create a metric fuck ton of gold or silver or platinum… but Mammoth didn't want her too!

The big lug could literally be set for life but he worried about overtaxing her powers!

' _Ugh, sometimes I wonder why I'm always stuck with these two?'_ she internally grumbled as she crossed her arms. But to be honest there was no heat to her annoyance. She had never made really big waves in The H.A.Y.E.P. either after all, despite her powers and drive to do so. Although admittedly, the Titans had kind of humiliated them when they had been sent to destroy them on their first major job.

She still felt it was Slade's fault for sending them on a job he never even expected them to complete in the first place. Really! It wasn't even like they were bottom-rung members of the H.A.Y.E.P. either; they'd been the top team of their class despite her comrades rather glaring lack of drive. Did Slade care about that? No! The asshole had sent them on a mission he expected them to fail all to deliver a fucking message!

She growled low in her throat and then inhaled deeply to calm herself down. As she did she raised her sleeve to see her wristwatch and frowned. _'Where are you Mammoth? The Headmaster is going to kill us if we don't get back soon,'_ the rosette noted to herself with a frown. The new Headmaster, one 'Brother Blood' was no one to scoff at. She'd even heard rumors that the man had mind control powers and a literal cult following…

She paused her thoughts when she heard a crash. She blinked and looked to see Mammoth laid out on the ground and rubbing his head. She turned to see a blond haired teen, roughly her age, and with an annoyed scowl on his face. She also took note that he was dressed in black and orange, was ruggedly handsome, and also oddly familiar. _'Why do I feel like I know him from somewhere?'_ she briefly wondered. It felt like something about the other teens face was just so familiar to her…

"What the fuck just happened?" Gizmo demanded. Jinx glanced at the tiny terror with a bemused expression.

"Clearly Mammoth just got tossed," she remarked. Gizmo shot her an annoyed look.

"I know that titless wonder!" he shouted at her. The girl scowled and glared at the tiny terror angrily. It wasn't her fault she was a stick figure… she blamed her mom for it, and that was the only explanation she thought made sense for the major difference in physical appearance between her and her mother. Normally people could easily see the similarity between mother and daughter, but not for her, ooooohhhhh no.

Her mother was an East Indian sorceress, bald sure, but that hardly detracted from her looks. The woman was voluptuous, and despite having given birth somehow still had the body of a teenager, not to mention she had magic, which was powered by 'natural energy' from the Earth. So it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that the woman had made herself beautiful and un-aging by making it so her daughter was scrawny, pale, and…

"Hey! are you listening to me bitch?!" Gizmo demanded. Jinx shook her head and turned a glare on him. "I meant who the fuck is that, and why does he think he can get away with tossing Mammoth around?" the bald midget demanded. Jinx didn't have an answer for that, instead she stepped forward and walked over to Mammoth. The man-mountain had a hand to his head as he glared at the blond teen.

"You okay?" she questioned. Mammoth grunted in response.

"Fine," he growled and got back up.

"You sure?" Gizmo questioned as he hopped onto his back. Gizmo and Mammoth worked more closely together than she did with either of them. They better complimented one another's abilities after all. Sure, Jinx didn't have the strength of an elephant or the engineering know how of a mad genius, but she didn't need them to get the job done.

"Yes," Mammoth hissed. He then gave a roar and lunged at the blond haired teen. Jinx rolled her eyes and idly looked at her fingernails. _'I wonder how flat that guy will,'_ she paused her thoughts when she saw the blond duck Mammoth's punch. It only warranted merit because of how fast he did it. One second Mammoth was about to splatter him, the next he was to the side of the man-mountain with a wide grin.

He chuckled and then slammed a fist into Mammoth's jaw. The man-mountain was sent flying back and landed across the street. Jinx's eyebrows shot up at that, Mammoth weighed a literal ton, how had that kid managed to lay him out like that? _'Strong and fast?'_ she considered worriedly. She dearly hoped this wasn't another member of the 'Super' family or they were so screwed it wasn't even funny.

"Alright gackface no more playing around!" Gizmo growled as he fired a plethora of rockets at the blond. Yet the blond didn't seem the least bit worried. No. In fact if Jinx could put a word on how he looked, 'bored' would probably be the closest thing to describe it. The blond seemed to blur forward a moment later and literally grabbed each of the rockets out of midair.

He then tossed them to the side, much to Gizmo's shock.

"What the…" the tiny terror muttered under his breath. He then shook his head and activated his spider-legs with narrowed eyes. "Dodge this you son of a," he growled as he lunged at the blond. Said blond stared at the spider-legs curiously even as they were about to come down on him. Yet much like what had happened with Mammoth and the rockets, the blond haired teen blurred into motion to avoid them. He then seemed to adhere to one of the legs and looked at Gizmo's backpack curiously.

"Hey! Get off of me!" Gizmo snarled at the blond. Said teen shot him an amused look.

"No," he stated with an obvious accent. Jinx idly tried to place it while Gizmo tried to shake the blond haired teen off. Instead the teen snickered as he hung onto the bald midget without any visible assistance. Eventually the tiny terror screamed in frustration and lashed out with one of his other legs. However the blond slipped under the leg and then grabbed Gizmo's goggles and pulled back on them.

"Uh… I surrender," Gizmo tried with a nervous grin. The blond just shook his head then released the goggles. They gave a loud snap as they slammed into the tiny terrors eyes. "SON OF A MOTHER FUCKING PISS SPEWING SHIT MUNCHING BITCH!" he roared out in pain as he grabbed at his face. He then stumbled away on his spider-legs while the blond shook his head.

Jinx narrowed her eyes at this and then snapped her fingers in his direction. While she sometimes questioned why Gizmo and Mammoth had no drive, they were also probably the closest things she really had to friends in the H.A.Y.E.P. Given that and she wouldn't just let them get pummeled. The blond heard a sound and then flipped out of the way as a light post suddenly fell and nearly crushed him.

He then turned and watched as Jinx approached him with her hands on her hips.

"Looks like your luck's just run out," she quipped and then waved a hand forward. A pink wave of energy rushed into the ground and caused it to crack and split in a path at the blond. However he narrowed his eyes and then blurred to the side and out of sight. _'That could be a problem,'_ Jinx decided as she tried to find the blond. However she yelped as he grabbed her from behind and then spun with her.

Around and around they went before he suddenly stopped. When he did Jinx stumbled on her feet. She then raised her hands to her mouth to keep from spewing chunks. _'Ugh… my stomach,'_ she inwardly moaned as she stumbled away from the blond. Gizmo was still swearing up a storm as he tried to rub his eyes to alleviate the pain. Meanwhile Mammoth gave a roar as he charged at the blond haired teen with a furious expression.

Said teen mutely watched the man-mountain approach and then leaped up and landed on Mammoth's shoulders. He then kicked Mammoth in the chin to knock him off balance before he leaped up and dropped down to slam the man mountain into the asphalt. Mammoth gave a groan of pain while the blond shook his head. He had a bemused smile across his lips as he knelt down and flicked Mammoth across the nose.

"No skill," he remarked with a shake of his head. He then turned to the side when he heard someone start to clap. There stood a man with graying hair in an odd style, dressed in white robes with a stylized demon skull on the front in gold. Naruto frowned and stepped off of Mammoth as the man approached him.

"My my, such talent you have," the man remarked, "I've not seen such talent in years," the man noted as he crossed his hands within the sleeves of his 'robe'. Naruto arched a brow in response while the man glanced from Jinx to Gizmo and finally to the downed Mammoth with a thin frown across his lips. "I had wondered if these three were ready to graduate… but alas, it seems it's not to be," he remarked a bit dramatically.

Naruto tilted his head in response, he had only half understood what the man said.

"In any case well done my boy," the man stated and patted Naruto on his shoulder. The blond ex-shinobi just raised a brow in response. "I would like to personally extend an offer for you to join my prestigious school, the H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People," the man offered. Naruto just tilted his head to the side.

"Nani?" he questioned. The man blinked and then rubbed his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers.

"Just one moment," he suggested and then pulled a piece of paper from his sleeve. His eyes gave a brief crimson glow, which was mirrored by Jinx's eyes to the side. The girl paused and swayed, before she shook her head with a groan. The man's eyes dimmed as he started to right some kanji on the piece of paper. Once he was finished he handed the piece of paper to the blond haired boy.

"There, I believe that should make things a bit simpler," he remarked as Naruto looked at the note. The note was short and to the point. It essentially told him he was offered a chance to join the H.A.Y.E.P., that he would be allowed free room and board, and that all that was expected in exchange was that he keep to a certain grade point average. Naruto mentally grimaced as he looked at the note.

He'd honestly hated going to the Shinobi academy back in Konoha, Iruka had been the only good part about it dealing with it. He wasn't much for book learning after all, he had always learned better when he was being active. Besides that he didn't know what they could even teach him at this H.A.Y.E.P. place. But then his stomach growled and his decision was basically made for him…

(End Flashback…)

00

Naruto blinked and shook his head as he came out of his memories. He turned away from the dive bar and leaped into the city proper once more. He had been in Jump City for more than a year now. He'd explored the city's streets and alleys extensively in that time. He knew most anyway he needed to go to reach anywhere in town when necessary. It was for this reason that he could teleport where he needed to go so quickly.

Though unfortunately his teleport didn't do too well with solid walls in the way.

Despite that minor limitation, he arrived exactly where he needed to be. He landed on a tall building across the street from his target. The pale moon hung in the sky and was briefly shadowed by a few stray clouds. He slowly crept to the side of the building to look at his target and frowned. _'Six floors, not counting a possible subbasement, fire-escape to the left, and possibly another entrance in the back,'_ he noted to himself.

All things considered the building was nondescript for a hotel. It was bigger than the Nindo Hotel back in Konoha, but Konoha was smaller than Jump City. So it honestly wasn't a fair comparison. He shook his head then examined the exterior of the hotel and raised a brow. He could see a broken window, normally nothing special, but it was broken from the outside on the fifth floor. No kid with a rock could manage that feat.

' _So probably a break in,'_ he considered. He then shrugged off his coat and quickly rolled it up. While the coat looked badass, it could get in the way on jobs. He'd found that the simplest way to remedy that was to put it out of the way. Once it was rolled up he placed his palm on it and a bright red X stretched around it. He still had the stick and stretch X's the Kid developed, he just chose not to use them against the Titans.

It was for the same reason he hadn't used any Jutsu against them. The kids were kids; he'd been through a war and worse. It'd feel like overkill to use his full force against them in any kind of fight. Well, barring Starfire, she could apparently take that kind of beating if push came to shove. Admittedly that wasn't by much, but it was still a fair margin above how seriously he took the other kids.

' _It'll also eat at the kid if I take her more seriously than I take him,'_ he noted with a chuckle. Anything that got under Robin's skin would amuse him. Especially since he reminded him so much of a young Uchiha Sasuke. Well, minus the whole 'murder his brother, then the council, then Danzo, then Konoha, then become Hokage' thing. Actually the Kid was a whole lot better than Sasuke.

But that didn't mean he'd take him seriously in a fight.

With a mental snicker the masked blond stood up and hooked his rolled up coat to his belt. He then took a few steps back and lunged forward to leap from his perch to the building across the street. He landed against it and used Chakra to adhere to the walls before he crawled his way up to the broken window and slipped inside. He clung to the walls to avoid the shattered glass on the floor and then looked around with narrowed eyes.

' _What happened here?'_ he wondered briefly. It was quiet and that worried him. This was a den of assassins who worked for the H.I.V.E. The actual H.I.V.E that is, or just the 'Hierarchy of Vengeance and Elimination' as they were lesser known, they weren't the H.A.Y.E.P or 'H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People' that the Troika worked for. The guys in this place were trained strictly for murder.

' _That's why I stayed out of the advanced programs,'_ he noted to himself as he reached the door and slowly opened it to glance into the hall. Getting himself into the H.I.V.E proper was never his goal. The idea of being an assassin had never appealed to him. As a Shinobi he had killed people, but he had always known that he wasn't a killer by nature. The few who had died by his hand had truly deserved it.

Naruto shook such thoughts from his mind and moved out of the room. He looked around the halls for a moment then quickly made his way around the rooms while keeping an eye and ear out for anything suspicious. He wasn't sure exactly what that would be but he was sure he'd know it when he saw it. But as he searched the other rooms he quickly realized that nothing was happening.

He paused his search and narrowed his eyes in thought.

' _If this place is just a front, then they have to have a proper meeting place, so… sub-basement,'_ he decided. With that he moved to the stairs and hurried down to the ground floor. The solid walls thing that screwed with his teleport was especially annoying in enclosed spaces. Still it was a minor annoyance and the suit's variety of functions more than made up for the occasional annoyances.

As he went he noted that the hotel seemed, if not abandoned, then empty. He found that troubling, but shook the worry off. Instead he focused on the task at hand. He moved down the stairs and then peered out into the main foyer. No one was around. He frowned deeply and then searched around for a way to reach the basement. He soon found it in the staff room and made down to the basement level.

He glanced around the basement and hummed. It was non-descript, as X expected, and aside from storage he saw very little of interest. However this was the H.I.V.E. and they would definitely have snuck a secret facility in under any building they owned. So with that in mind he started to search around the room. He searched boxes and crates and stored supplies. Yet strangely he didn't find anything out of place.

So instead he started to check the walls. He knocked on each wall and checked for seams on the chance of finding a hidden door. After a thorough search he mentally scowled and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. _'Alright you paranoid fuckers, where'd you put your hidden entrance?'_ he wondered to himself. He glanced around for a moment then knelt down to the floor and placed his fingers flush against it.

' _Wait,'_ he thought and narrowed his eyes. He reached up to flick the ear of his helmet and noticed several distorted sounds. _'That confirms the sub-basement at least,'_ he noted to himself. He then started to move along the ground and paused when he found a seam at the back corner of the basement. _'Gotcha,'_ he thought with a smirk. He then felt around until he found a handle on the hatch.

He took a quick step back and pulled open the hatch and slipped inside. He fell for a brief moment and landed in a low crouch. He noticed he was in a long dark hallway and frowned as he made his way into the depths of the facility. He was silent as he went, but paused at the sight of blood on the walls. _'Well they've definitely had some unexpected guests tonight,'_ he inwardly remarked.

He'd feel a lot worse about that too, if he didn't know what they did to Cypher…

Instead he placed a hand on the wall next to him and quietly stalked down the hall. He paused as he came to a turn and peered around the corner. More blood covered the walls while a body was slumped against it. The dead man was dressed in a purple hooded robe, the traditional garb of the H.I.V.E's agents. He silently approached the body then knelt down to check him. He found several distinctive cuts on the man.

They were three thin cuts, spaced two apart, with the middle one larger than the other two. He idly placed his hand near the wound and frowned. _'Sai,'_ he realized. He'd seen weapons of similar make before, back in the Shinobi nations especially. _'Well if I wasn't worried about Jinx before, I certainly am now,'_ he thought to himself. He turned from the fallen H.I.V.E. agent and made his way further into the facility.

He eventually came to a busted doorway and entered a massive facility. A cursory glance around showed him more dead H.I.V.E. Agents. Alongside them were a couple of people he recognized from his days in the H.A.Y.E.P. _'Some of these guys are the so-called 'Elite' students, they were training for the advanced courses,'_ he noted to himself with a frown. They were the 'assassins' this place had.

' _Fuck me, no wonder Brother Blood tried to draft me into the advanced courses. These assholes were pushovers back in school,'_ he thought to himself. Though to be fair, when compared to him, most H.A.Y.E.P. students were pathetic. Even the Troika, some of the best of the 'Mercenary' courses, were sub-par compared to him. It wasn't him being arrogant; it was a fact that they were no match for him in a straight fight.

He shook such thoughts from his mind and continued through the facility. Though now he wondered why Giz had been so worried. _'Bad asses he says, ha! Gizmo worries way too much,'_ he thought with a shake of his head. Although he did feel a little bad for their deaths, they were assassins, so he wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. Still he had a friend to find and as he moved through the facility he heard something.

He quickly turned on the 'Stealth Camo' of his suit and vanished from sight. While there were Jutsu that could make one invisible he had never actually learned how to use any of them. Mostly because Jiraiya had been stingy with his, and the people in Iwa still didn't like his father and so really didn't like him. Even after the last Shinobi world war they continued to hold that silly grudge… well mostly just the Tsuchikage…

But that wasn't here or now.

He followed the sounds he heard through the facility to an open area. He took a brief moment to take in the rest of the open area, but it was fairly nondescript like the rest of the facility. Although he did take note that there were a lot of bodies in this room alongside what looked like computers and other sorts of equipment. Naruto moved forward slowly, towards the source of the sounds.

He idly checked the bodies as he passed, mostly for the sake of finding someone who knew what happened; however no one had been left alive. Naruto clicked his tongue in irritation and then moved on. Though to be perfectly honest, he hated going in blind. It meant he'd have to deal with surprises, which no Shinobi wanted to deal with on a mission if they could help it.

He paused when he heard the noise again, louder this time. He followed it to a nearby corridor and quietly crept down its length. He palmed the wall as he went and then knelt down and peered around a corner. He blinked in surprise when he spotted a green clad girl in front of a large mechanical door. She muttered a curse here or there as she fiddled with a locking mechanism to the side of it.

"Stupid piece of junk," she hissed. Naruto blinked and then stalked around the corner to get a better look at her. Something about her was really familiar. But she also looked… wait… _'It's that one girl… what was her name? It was something about a cat right?'_ he mused to himself. He then mentally snapped his fingers when it finally came to him. _'Oh right, it's Cheshire?'_ he thought with a nod.

He'd met her back when he first joined the H.A.Y.E.P… although he hadn't seen much of her after his entrance exam. _'Though to be fair, I was a bit mean to her,'_ he considered as he recalled how he'd passed his 'exam'. It had been cheeky and just a bit mean, and he'd also kept her sash, which meant she'd had to walk back to her room while holding her clothes together… okay he'd been a complete dick to her.

Still that didn't explain what she was doing here. She clearly hadn't been attacked and given all the dead agents it wouldn't make sense that she'd escaped or survived. Which could only mean… oh, well that figured. _'She's the assassin who killed them all,'_ he mentally voiced. Although that begged the question of when she'd betrayed the H.I.V.E. Sure he hadn't seen her around much, but…

"I know you're there," she as she turned to look down the hall, "come out!" she ordered. Naruto mentally frowned and deactivated his camo. He appeared crouched low to the ground, then slowly stood up. Cheshire also stood up to face him and he noted that she looked very different. Hell now that he got a good look at her she looked completely different! It was honestly like she was a totally different person now.

She looked like she'd packed on some muscle, as if she'd worked out more, the wild mane of black hair on her head and tanned skin were familiar, as was the torn up green kimono and light green sash around her waist. However the odd black thigh high boots, grey kneepads, skintight black 'shirt' connected to gloves with green wraps around her hands and forearms that left her armpits bare, black bicycle shorts, and weapon belt around her waist were not.

Even the fucking mask she had on now was new!

"Well well well, what have we here?" the babe purred. He'd never consider her a 'girl' even when they first met. He'd been all but sure she'd killed at least a few times back then, all the death around him right now just proved it. "I don't think I've seen you before, you new?" she quipped with a tilt of her head, her finger placed against her chin. Naruto chuckled to himself as he flexed his hands at his sides.

"Sorry to disappoint, but we have actually met before, Neko-Chan," he quipped back. He saw the girl blink behind the lenses of her mask, then narrow her eyes on him dangerously. Clearly he'd left quite an impression on her if she recognized him with only his 'nickname' for her to go by.

"Oh yes _**Tempest**_ ," she remarked darkly. "I certainly remember you," she growled her fingers flexing like claws. "Nice to see you can actually speak English now," she noted candidly. Naruto grunted and kept his eyes trained on the girl. She was one of the few people in the H.A.Y.E.P. he'd ever considered worth taking somewhat seriously. She was a Kunoichi, a _**real**_ Kunoichi, and her skills proved that in spades.

"Yeah," he agreed then grinned at her cheekily, "nice to see you finally got a belt to go with that sash," he noted playfully. Cheshire visibly twitched and then clenched her fists at her sides. She inhaled a breath to calm down and casually crossed her arms.

"Still have my old one?" she questioned. Naruto paused and tapped his chin in thought. He then snapped his fingers and nodded his head.

"Yep, I even found a nice place for it," he remarked. Cheshire hummed in response and then reached up to her mask.

"You know, I think I should thank you," she admitted. Naruto blinked then watched as the babe pulled her mask off to reveal a beautiful woman's face beneath with blemish free skin. Naruto tilted his head to one side as she then attached the mask to her hip.

"Huh… I figured you'd have some scars or tattoos," he mumbled. Cheshire gave a dry laugh and smirked at the blond.

"I considered the tattoos actually, and as for scars, well I have those in other places," she stated then grinned, "You want a peek?" she quipped playfully. Naruto snorted but he didn't doubt her word on the scars. As good as she was back when they fought she had definitely got those skills in battle.

"So why do you want to thank me?" he questioned. Cheshire idly stretched her arms up into the air, which seemed to draw Naruto's eyes to her chest. She smirked and then lowered her arms while the masked blond twitched. _'Definitely a Kunoichi, she knows how to use her sex appeal against me,'_ he noted to inwardly.

"Oh that's easy," she remarked, "I was at the top of my class in the H.A.Y.E.P., no one could lay a finger on me, I was literally the best of the best," she remarked. Naruto just frowned and wondered what that had to do with anything. "I was getting sloppy," she suddenly stated with a deep frown. "There was no challenge, no fun, it was actually getting pretty dull," she noted with a sigh. She then smirked at the blond thief.

"Then you showed up," she remarked. She laughed lightly as she leaned back into the door she'd been working on earlier. "Oh you beat me good, I hated you for that, but you also reminded me that I wasn't the best just yet," she stated. She then grinned nastily as she reached to her belt and pulled a pair of sai free. "So when I got ousted at school for my affiliation with the League of Shadows, I went to train," she remarked.

Naruto scowled deeply. _'That explains why I didn't see her again,'_ he mused. Even he was aware of who the League of Shadows, AKA the 'League of Assassins' were. They were a rival organization to the H.I.V.E. They had the same general MO, train highly skilled assassins and send them out on high profile jobs for the right price. The difference was the HIVE was a bargain bin version of the League…

Put plainly, you do not fuck with the League of Assassins.

"Is there a point to this story or not?" he demanded. If the girl was from the LOA then it was really no wonder why she was so good. Unlike the H.I.V.E. who had literally hundreds of Assassins, the League only accepted the cream of the crop. Naruto narrowed his eyes as Cheshire idly flipped her sai in her hands and then held them at her sides.

"Simply put," she began, "when you beat me, you gave me a reason to get even better," she stated. She then scowled at him and glared at him heatedly, "because if you hadn't, I wouldn't have been so angry that I'd want to train even harder. My master was pleased by my drive, pleased enough to give me solo missions," she remarked, "So for that, thank you," she stated with a bow of her head. Naruto rolled his eyes in response then frowned.

"Great, good for you, now where is Jinx?" he demanded. Cheshire looked up with an arched brow. She then grinned at him condescendingly.

"Aww, is she still following you around?" she questioned mockingly. Naruto growled under his breath and narrowed his eyes. No one made fun of his friends but him! Cheshire merely snickered and twirled her sai in her hands. "So do you really want to know where she is?" she questioned. Naruto nodded his head resolutely and Cheshire reached to her hip. She pulled her mask free then slipped it back over her face.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to try and _**beat**_ the answer out of me," she remarked. Naruto clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. The girl across from him twirled her sai in hand and then grinned at him. "But I can assure you, this match wont end like last time," she stated firmly. _'We'll just see about that, Neko-Chan,'_ Naruto thought to himself even as memories of the past came to the forefront of his mind…

00

(Flashback…)

Naruto could remember it almost like it happened yesterday. The day he'd met Cheshire. Brother Blood had brought him to the H.A.Y.E.P. after impressing him when he beat the Troika. He recalled thinking that the school looked weird, the odd hexagonal plates that made up the walls and yellow color scheme especially. Although thankfully not all of it was yellow it was still a bit of an eyesore.

Then there were the students, who as he passed, he couldn't help but think were even stranger than the school. They were all dressed in strange outfits that were more like costumes or something than actual clothes. A few of them had on genuine clothes, such as a girl in green, while others seemed to wear some kind of armor. Naruto wasn't sure either way, but he did notice he got more than a little female attention.

"Welcome to the H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People my boy," Brother Blood declared as he led the blond into the school. The Troika followed with defeated looks on their faces. Mammoth sporting a few bruises courtesy of the beating Naruto put him through. In his defense, Mammoth had tried to eat his food when he was hungry; no one did that without incurring his wrath.

"So what do you think then, Mister?" the man questioned. Naruto winced as he tried to think of how to answer the man. Naruto translated to 'Maelstrom' so he supposed that would work. Especially with all the weird names people seemed to have in this place.

"Is nice," he grunted in effort. English was annoying in his opinion. This was mostly because it was so difficult to understand. Not to mention it made him feel like an idiot that he couldn't speak to anyone or even read most of the signs.

"Yes…" the man remarked and then hummed, "I really mush find a translator for you," Brother Blood mused with a nod. Gizmo shot forward on his mechanical spider-legs, his eyes were a little bruised, but he was otherwise fine.

"Why not get Cheshire to do it," he suggested. Mostly because with her features the girl definitely looked Asian, and the clothes looked Japanese to him. Brother Blood on the other hand knew better, so fixed the tiny terror with a scowl.

"Maybe because she's half-Vietnamese," he began and then glared, "not Japanese!" he snarled at the bald midget. Gizmo recoiled then slunk back with a nervous titter. Brother Blood merely sniffed and then turned Jinx. "Miss Jinx, I believe you're multilingual correct?" he questioned with his arms crossed in his sleeves. Jinx blinked for a moment and then nodded her head.

"Yes sir, while I'm not fluent I can speak English, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, French, and know a smattering of Chinese and German," she replied. At the shocked looks from her two friends she shrugged. "The old man taught me a few things," she remarked. What old man she meant however was left up in the air.

"Yes," Blood remarked then looked to Naruto. "In any case please direct any questions to miss Jinx," he suggested. Naruto nodded and turned to the rosette. He had to admit, if only to himself, that she reminded him of Sakura to a startling extent. A few minor differences were there of course, but she had roughly the same build, facial structure, and musculature of his old friend.

Still he spoke to the girl for a moment and she frowned in concentration.

"He says his name is 'Uzumaki Naruto'," she began and then hummed in thought. "It roughly translates to 'Swirling Maelstrom'," she translated. Brother Blood hummed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"So a Tempest then," he remarked. Naruto blinked then grinned at the name. It sounded good to him! "Well it seems as if he approves in any case," Brother Blood remarked dryly and then cleared his throat. His eyes briefly flashed red as they continued down the halls into a large room. "Please explain to Mister Tempest that to join our school he must first pass an entrance exam," the man bade Jinx.

The rosette nodded her head and then spoke to Naruto once more. The blond couldn't help but note her accent to her and she blushed. Though given the pink marks that were already on her cheeks, it was a bit hard to tell. Still he listened to her explanation and grimaced. He asked her if it was going to be one of the 'study tests' where he would have to answer questions.

"He wants to know if it's a study kind of test," Jinx informed Brother Blood. The man smirked in response.

"Tell him it's a more… practical exam," he replied. Jinx nodded and did as told. The blond grinned as a result and pumped a fist. "Good, now tell him to wait for me to call," he paused. He then looked at Naruto and then shook his head. "Never mind, you three wait with him while I go and get things ready," he ordered then turned on his heel and exited the room.

It was quiet in the room as Naruto suddenly sat down and started to dig in his pockets for a few scrolls. He needed to unseal a few things if he was going to fit in with the other students in this… really weird school. As he did he noticed Gizmo, Mammoth, and Jinx as they huddled together nearby. Jinx glared at Gizmo with her hands on her hips.

"Why did you think Cheshire was Japanese!?" she hissed at the tiny terror.

"You've seen her!" he exclaimed with his arms in the air.

"She is Asian," Mammoth remarked with a shrug. Jinx palmed her face as a result.

"There's more in Asia than just Japan and China boneheads!" she growled.

"Well yeah, but with the way she dresses?" Gizmo replied with a shrug. Jinx groaned to herself and then glanced at Naruto. The blond had unsealed a set of clothes and started to change into them… by stripping down to his underwear. Jinx hurriedly turned around with a bright blush on her cheeks.

"Doesn't he have any shame!" she demanded incredulously. Gizmo just laughed at her discomfort while Mammoth hummed and scratched his head.

"He probably just didn't think about it," the massive teen remarked calmly. He then looked to Gizmo who was on his back with laughter and shook his head. "Not that funny man," he stated. Gizmo soon ceased his laughter and rolled onto his hands and feet. He then unfolded his spider-legs to rise back up and grinned at Jinx.

"C'mon Jinxie, we've got guys who wear less than that as fucking 'costumes' around here," Gizmo remarked. Jinx grunted in acknowledgement, though frowned deeply.

"Most of 'em aren't undressing in the same room as a girl!" she growled at the tiny terror. Gizmo shrugged his shoulders.

"Not like he can go anywhere else to get dressed," he reminded. Jinx opened her mouth to argue, only to pause when she realized he was right. The Headmaster had specifically wanted him to wait in the room… and them to wait with him. She snapped her mouth closed and then crossed her arms and pouted.

"Well I don't have to like it," she grumbled. Then glanced back at the blond. "Even if the view is nice," she mumbled under her breath. However she paused her thoughts when she noticed the pale-green tint of his right arm. It was a jarring difference to the tanned flesh of the rest of his body that stood out too much to be ignored. _'What the hell?'_ she wondered with a raised brow.

"What was that?" Mammoth suddenly questioned with a smirk. He'd heard her; he just really wanted to tease her. She and Gizmo teased him about his girlfriend Leviathan way too much in his opinion that it was nice to be able to get back at them for once.

"Nothing!" Jinx exclaimed with a nervous grin. Gizmo laughed while Mammoth smirked at her discomfort. He also found it nice to cause someone else to be uncomfortable for once. He'd had more than his far share in his personal opinion. All he had to do from here was get back at Gizmo and he was set…

"Yosh!" Naruto exclaimed. He also hopped back to his feet, thankfully now fully dressed. His clothes consisted of bicep-length fingerless black gloves, a sleeveless black shirt with a facemask, a black headband with a red spiral, a red T-shirt with black spirals on the sleeves, black pants with a kunai-holster, grey utility belt, and calf-length black Shinobi-sandals.

The blond idly stretched his arms up into the air above his head then leaned back to crack his back. He sighed when he felt a pop and then turned to either side and started to stretch his arms and legs to limber up. Mammoth raised a brow, and then smirked when he saw Jinx paying a bit too much attention to the blond.

"I think someone likes the new guy," he teased. Jinx yelped and turned to Mammoth with a blush, only to scoff and cross her arms.

"I do not 'like' someone I literally just met and who handed our collective ass's to us less than four hours ago," she stated pointedly. Mammoth smirked knowingly while Gizmo rolled his eyes.

"Aw who cares about any of that shit! I want to know what kind of test a 'practical exam' would entail?" the tiny terror remarked. Mammoth shrugged in response while Jinx hummed thoughtfully. She considered what it could mean, and then slowly nodded her head as an idea came to mind. It also felt like something Brother Blood would do.

"Well given he beat us in a three on one fight, he'll probably have to fight one of the elites from the assassin courses," she remarked. Mammoth shuddered briefly and then looked at Naruto with a small bit of pity. The Assassin course elites were for the most part unlike them, that is to say utterly ruthless and without a shred of mercy. Some were playful, sure, but all of them were top tier killers.

"Heh, but which one would they send? I mean c'mon we wiped the floor with a couple of those assassins when we teamed up on 'em," Gizmo reminded. Jinx and Mammoth nodded their heads, and then paused. Jinx could think of only one assassin in their grade who would qualify as an elite. However she had trouble imagining that Brother Blood would want her humiliated if 'Tempest' managed to beat her.

"Cheshire," Mammoth stated bluntly. Jinx made a noise of acknowledgement. Gizmo arched a brow and frowned to himself. He knew that Cheshire was good; her skills were legendary among the ranks of the H.A.Y.E.P. No one fucked with Cheshire. Even pranks on her were a no go; her 'playful returns' on pranks were always three times as humiliating as the ones that befell her… he knew from experience.

Before their thoughts could go any further they heard the intercom crackle.

(Send in Mister Tempest,) Brother Blood ordered. Jinx was the first to react as she walked forward and opened the door. With a flash of light from behind the door Naruto saw a large arena. The arena was made up of a multitude of hexagonal yellow plates. Which, when he thought about it, had been all around the school thus far. _'Must be a quirky design choice or something,'_ he inwardly decided.

He then glanced to the side as the Troika made their way to the stands. Said stands were a few feet above the floor, but the three just leaned against the wall beneath them. Naruto also noticed that there were dozens of teens in all kinds of crazy clothes. Much like the ones he'd seen earlier, most looked like costumes, but he did see a couple in what could possibly pass as normal clothes.

A moment later Naruto turned as Brother Blood appeared on a screen above the arena.

"Students of the H.I.V.E. Academy," the man began with a curt bow. "I welcome you all here today, to watch a potential new recruit," he remarked and then motioned down towards Naruto. The blond idly tilted his head and crossed his arms behind his neck. "He has shown a talent and aptitude for combat I have not seen in years," he remarked and then looked down towards the Troika.

"He even managed to defeat last years top students, Misters Gizmo and Mammoth, and Miss Jinx," he noted aloud. The stands burst into raucous laughter at that while the Troika grumbled to themselves. Eventually when the laughter went on for too long Jinx raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Instantly the stands fell over, along with the people sitting in them, and Jinx smirked to herself.

"Yes yes, its all quite funny, but do quiet down now," Brother Blood requested with a roll his eyes. He then frowned when the laughing continued, "I said quiet down," he remarked as his eyes flared red. Instantly the majority of students quieted down and returned their attention to him. Naruto blinked when they did and narrowed his eyes. _'What the hell was that?'_ the blond wondered to himself.

"Good," Brother Blood stated and crossed his hands in the sleeves of his robe. Naruto narrowed his eyes on the man. He didn't know what that was, but he did know he didn't like it. "Now as should be perfectly obvious, given how late in the school year he's arrived, Mister Tempest will be taking a very different sort of test," the man remarked and then smirked.

"Miss Cheshire," he called out. A moment later there was a soft plop and a girl appeared in front of Naruto. _'Not bad,'_ he thought to himself. The girl looked to be around his age, had long black hair in two pony tails with green ribbons and deeply tanned skin, she wore a green kimono top with a light green obi around her waist, high heeled black boots with green cuffs, and a white porcelain grinning cat mask with green eyes and pink designs.

The dark haired girl also regarded the blond Shinobi. Slowly the girl circled around the blond, and he did likewise, keeping her well in sight. Idly, Naruto noticed that the students in the stand watched them like hawks. Likewise, Brother Blood regarded them with barely contained amusement. "For his entrance exam, as a test of his skill, Mister Tempest will be pit against Miss Cheshire, our highest scoring elite assassin, in one on one combat," the man declared.

The stands seemed to cheer at the idea and 'Cheshire' popped her neck and squared her shoulders.

"Miss Jinx, do be a dear and explain this to our young Mister Tempest," Brother Blood requested. His eyes flashed red once more and the rosette blinked then walked to the blond haired youth. She whispered to him what his test was and he nodded in response. "Good, now then Miss Jinx please evacuate so as not to disturb our young combatants," the man requested.

Cheshire watched Jinx leave while Naruto stretched his arms over his head. He also noticed that Cheshire's sleeves seemed a little strange. He paused his thoughts to look up at Brother Blood when Jinx walked back to her friends. "Now Miss Cheshire, Mister Tempest," he began then paused, "Begin!" he declared. Cheshire was on him in seconds and swung a pair of claws out of her sleeves.

Naruto merely blurred out of the way, he then grabbed Cheshire's arm and tossed her into the air. However the girl twisted in the air and hurled several shuriken at the blond. _'Nani?'_ Naruto demanded as he ducked out of the way. _'They have Shinobi here too?'_ he wondered with a frown. He watched Cheshire as she landed on all fours and seemed to vanish. Naruto blinked and looked around for the girl with a frown.

' _No Chakra,'_ he noted to himself. He couldn't find her with his usual sensing, but he did notice the sound of her moving. Those high heels she wore sure looked nice, but they didn't make her movements quiet. It also helped she carried weapons on her person, as he could hear a soft metal clink at his side. He ducked as the girl lashed out with a claw for his head then twisted into a sweeping kick.

Cheshire fell back but caught herself with her hands and flipped out of the way as Naruto followed up with a punch. The blond frowned as he watched Cheshire flip back and land on all fours in another low crouch. _'All right, I'll admit it, she's really good,'_ he remarked with a thin frown. She was definitely head and shoulders above the Troika, though he couldn't help but think there was a reason for that.

No one was this good without having actual combat experience after all…

He shook such thoughts from his head as Cheshire started to hurl thin throwing knives at him. He ducked and moved around each of them while the girl vanished once more. _'That is really getting annoying,'_ the blond remarked. He closed his eyes to listen for the girl then grabbed her arm as she tried to claw him once more. Instead he turned on his heel and hurled Cheshire to the side while ripping the right sleeve from her kimono.

He paused when he noticed something was inside the kimono sleeve, specifically a box shaped device. _'What the hell are you supposed to be?'_ he briefly wondered then shook his head and crushed the device in his hand. As he did Cheshire flipped back to her feet and then glared at him. She then lunged forward and swiped at the blond with the claw on her right arm. However as he dodged she twisted her hear to whip at him with her hair.

Naruto grunted as he felt something slam into his face like a metal bar. _'Wait does she put fucking weights in her hair or something?!'_ he mentally demanded as he stumbled back from the blow. Cheshire then swept his feet out from under him and rolled on top of him as he landed. She then stabbed down at the blond with her claws but he caught her by the wrists and felt his eye twitch.

' _Normally I might actually enjoy this position,'_ the blond admitted to himself. Hot ninja-babe on top of him, what wasn't to enjoy. _'But not when a Kunoichi is out for my fucking head!'_ he mentally roared as he pulled Cheshire's left hand to the side. Her claw stabbed into the ground and the blond slugged her across the face. Her mask cracked as a result and her head was knocked to the side.

Naruto then released her other wrist while she was dazed and slugged her again. She was left dazed as the blond shoved her off of himself and rolled back. Cheshire slowly regained her senses and shook her head to clear it of stars. As she did that Naruto reached back to pull out his Kunai and hurled two of them at the girl. She noticed them and rolled to the side then glared at him as he glared right back.

Up above the arena, Brother Blood silently looked to a technician and raised a finger. The Technician nodded and turned a dial on his control panel…

Down below the arena started to change, platforms rising up and all manor of traps forming around the two combatants. Naruto yelped and steadied himself as he was lifted up by one of the rising platforms. _'Well this is new on me,'_ he noted in surprise and then looked around. He didn't see Cheshire, but with all the new walls and hiding spaces he wasn't too surprised by that.

' _I so did not expect to fight a halfway descent Kunoichi around here,'_ the blond admitted to himself. Just from the Troika's performance he'd expected a lot less from this 'H.A.Y.E.P.' place. But if they had someone like her around they had to be at least halfway descent at what they did. He paused his thoughts to duck a blow from Cheshire, the girl having literally leaped from above to catch him off guard.

He rolled out of the way and turned to see Cheshire running at him. He blocked a swing of her claws and then head butted her in the face. He grimaced and rubbed his face while Cheshire stumbled back. The blond then leaped into a kick to her chest that sent her flying back. However on the way she managed to grab a 'pole' that came from the side of one of the walls and flipped back up on top of it.

The girl then ducked back and spun into a flip off of the pole and landed in a tuck and roll. She came out of the roll and lunged at the blond haired youth once more; she swiped at the blond with her claws again, and then swung her hair as he ducked to the side. 'Not this time!' the blond remarked as he grabbed her hair then pulled her to the side. After a brief yelp of pain the blond then swiped through her hair with a kunai.

The ebony locks were thus freed into a mess of black. Her hair was left in a wild mess as she stumbled away from him, while he lashed out with a roundhouse. Cheshire ducked into a roll away and then turned on her heel and lunged at him furiously. However Naruto spun her 'weighted hair' in hand and slammed it against her face, cracking her mask further. She stumbled back from the blow and Naruto tossed the hair to the side.

The girl shook her head to clear the stars from her vision then tapped her feet on the ground and lunged forward into a series of kicks. Naruto swore when he noticed thin sharp knives at the tips of her boots that nearly cut him. He backed up to avoid them then grabbed her leg and flipped her into the air. Cheshire moved with the momentum and then hurled several throwing knives at him again…

Where the fuck she was keeping them all he didn't know…

The blond blurred into movement to avoid the knives and then grunted as Cheshire body checked him and tried to stab him once more. Instead Naruto grabbed her wrists and then kicked her off of him, taking her claws as he did. The girl backed up and looked from her hands to the blond as he tossed her claws away. She then reached into her kimono to produce a pair of Sai. Naruto stared at the girl incredulously as she did.

' _Okay… first of all, she's really_ _ **really**_ _good, second, Tenten would love this chick!'_ Naruto noted to himself. He then swore as Cheshire lunged at him once more. He dodged and blocked a double kick combo from the girl and then knocked her arm to the side as she tried to stab him with her sai. The girl then rolled forward and leaped up to wrap her thighs around his head and tried to twist his neck.

' _Dammit! While I'm loving the view Neko-chan, hate to disappoint but I am so not letting you break my neck!'_ the blond inwardly remarked then paused to take a good look. _'Lacy and black? Huh, nice… but I honestly expected green,'_ he mused and then ducked back. He brought Cheshire with him, which threw her off of him. The girl ducked into a roll then turned and lunged at the blond again.

She lashed out stabbing her sai at the blond only for him to roll out of the way. He reached up as he went passed the girl and then flipped into a crouch. He turned with a smirk while Cheshire twirled her Sai and narrowed her eyes on him. "Eh, Neko-Chan," he mockingly called. She arched a brow and then blinked when he held up a light-grin length of cloth… a very familiar length of light green cloth…

She immediately looked down and hurriedly closed her kimono with her arms. She could hear a few catcalls from the boys in the stands and mentally promised eternal vengeance against all of them. Then glared at Naruto. _**Especially**_ the blond one in front of her! She glared heatedly at the blond while he snickered to himself. A moment later they turned at the sound of clapping and watched as Brother Blood lowered down towards them.

The gray haired man continued to clap even as his platform stopped and the arena shifted back to normal. He then approached the two teens with a smirk across his lips. His eyes briefly gave a crimson glow and Jinx hurried from her place with the rest of the Troike and joined the headmaster as he approached them. She then walked over to Naruto so that she could translate for the headmaster as he spoke to them.

"Very well done mister Tempest," Brother Blood remarked, "although it's a victory by proxy that miss Cheshire won't continue because… well, it seems that she still has _**some**_ modesty," he remarked rather dryly. Cheshire twitched in annoyance. "Despite that you have certainly shown that you deserve a place in this prestigious academy," he remarked kindly. Naruto tilted his head then grinned with an eye squinted closed.

He didn't really know what to expect from the H.A.Y.E.P., but if all the tests were like this he'd have a blast!

"As for you miss Cheshire," Brother Blood began and turned to the girl. He then knelt down next to her, a single hand placed on her exposed right shoulder. "Tell your master that the H.I.V.E. does not appreciate spies," he whispered to her darkly. Cheshire's green eyes widened beneath her mask and then narrowed on the man dangerously. "Oh come now, scurry back to the _**Shadows**_ dear," he taunted, and then turned from her with a smirk.

"Now miss Jinx, I'm going to appoint you as Mister Tempest's tutor, see to it that he is up to speed with the rest of his classes…" the man ordered. He then walked back to his platform, only to pause. "Oh and see about teaching him English," he stated with a nod of his head. "It wouldn't do for such a fine student to have problems understanding his peers and teachers," he remarked dryly.

Jinx silently nodded her head to the headmaster without question. With that done Brother Blood returned to his platform and looked down as it rose back up. He glanced at Cheshire while the masked girl glared at him. Once he was out of sight she turned her glare on Naruto and it heated to boiling levels. The blond merely smirked and tilted his head with an eye squinted shut. Jinx looked at him and then the sash he was carrying.

"You going to give it back?" she questioned. However Naruto hummed for a moment as he looked at the obi. He then glanced at the glaring Cheshire. He considered being a nice guy for a moment… and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Souvenir," he quipped in response…

(Flashback End…)

00

Naruto was man enough to admit he'd been a total and complete dick to the girl. Not only had she basically been banished from the H.A.Y.E.P., if he was right, then she'd had to leave while half naked… In hindsight, her anger made a lot more sense. This was especially true as she tried to remove his head. Literally, tried to remove his head. Naruto ducked a stab from her sai and backed into a wall.

' _No where near enough room for me to move around in this hall,'_ he mentally remarked and then rolled out of the way as Cheshire stabbed at him once more. He also admitted that the girl really had gotten better. He could tell just by the way she carried herself now, it was, if at all possible, even more confident that it was back when they first met. Granted that was a year ago, but this was a startling amount of development.

He ducked under her sai and then rammed a fist into her sternum. Cheshire gasped and backed up then lashed out with a kick, which the masked blond rolled out of the way of. He then looked at the girl with a frown as he tried to find himself an opening. However her weapons were short range and she wasn't letting up. She stabbed and kicked at him relentlessly so he couldn't make a move.

' _She's using the environment to her advantage,'_ Naruto noted with a frown, _'apparently she also learned tactics while she was away,'_ he mused. Cheshire had been skilled before, but she hadn't really used the environment to her advantage to this extent. The hallway was slim and enclosed, Naruto was somewhat bulkier than Cheshire and so required more room to move, she used this to keep him on the defensive.

He paused his thoughts to grab Cheshire by the arm and then turned and slammed her into a wall. She giggled and then glanced back at him cheekily. "Ooh, someone finally ready to have some real fun?" she purred sultrily. Naruto blinked in surprise and then swore as the girl slammed her elbow into his face. The blond stumbled back from the blow while Cheshire ducked to the side and turned to him with grin.

' _Mother of fucking kami!'_ Naruto snarled internally as he shook his head. He then focused on Cheshire as she twirled her sai in her hands. _'I can't fucking believe she actually used her sex appeal against me!'_ he thought with a scowl, _'And the worst part is it fucking worked!'_ he scolded himself. He should've known not to let her get to him, she was a Kunoichi before, but now she seemed to be an even better one…

He really needed to stop bringing the best and worst out of the people he fought.

With a shake of his head he hurried down the hall while Cheshire flung several shuriken at him from her sleeve. The blond turned and picked them out of midair as he came to a stop and then hurled them back at her. The woman rolled forward to avoid a few and then took one to the shoulder yet still continued forward. _'She has a much higher pain tolerance now,'_ the blond noted to himself with a frown.

The girl came at him with a quick swipe of her sai, the blond blocked the first and then grabbed her arm on the second. He then turned with her and tried to slam her into the wall, but she moved with the momentum and ran along the side of the wall instead. She then flipped out of his grip to land behind him and stabbed him in the kidney with one of her sigh. He grunted in pain and swung a punch at her but she kept low and then stabbed him in the other side and twisted bother sai.

' _Kami sama that hurts,'_ the blond thought with gritted teeth as Cheshire leaned her body against him, her breasts pressing against his back as she leaned up to his 'ear'. "So then, am I better or what?" she mockingly purred into his ear. It sent a shiver down the blond's spine and he chuckled painfully.

"Neko-chan, I can say without a doubt that you are way better," he remarked, "however I have to say," he noted and vanished in a plume of smoke, revealing itself to be a Kage-Bunshin. Cheshire blinked as she nearly fell forward, then someone slammed a fist into her face. The girl was sent flying back down the hall and skidded to the end. She shook her head to clear it and looked up to see a red and black blur rushing towards her.

She stabbed her sai forward at it but it vanished in another plume of smoke. She was then grabbed from behind and hurled into the wide-open room at the end of the hall. She grunted as she bounced along the floor and then looked up to see Naruto, unwounded and arms crossed behind his neck. The masked blond chuckled lightly as he regarded the green clad assassin, "Still not in my league!" he finished for his clone.

Cheshire felt her brow twitch but chuckled in response as she twirled her sai.

"Nice trick, don't remember you doing that last time," she remarked. She slowly circled around the blond, who mirrored her action. He idly chuckled as he did and grinned at her.

"Really Neko-Chan, do you expect me to reveal all my tricks in a room filled with potential spies, mercenaries, thieves, and assassins?" he questioned. Cheshire paused to consider that, and then conceded that he made a decent point.

"Well then, no ones watching now," she remarked with a wave to the side. Naruto hummed and narrowed his eyes on the girl. "So c'mon then big boy," she urged as she crouched into a low stance and tensed her muscles, "show me what you got!" she declared as she lunged at the blond. Yet the blond ex-Shinobi blurred out of the way and Cheshire landed on her feet.

The girl looked for the blond to either side and then heard a whistle. She looked up and saw the masked blond literally stood upside down on the ceiling and offered her a playful wave. Cheshire just took a moment to absorb that and then shook her head, certain she was seeing things, then sighed tiredly. "Well fuck me…" she murmured. Naruto rubbed his chin in response.

"Maybe later," he quipped and then dropped from the ceiling and lashed out with a kick. Cheshire flipped back to avoid the kick and then lunged forward and tried to stab him once more. However the blond grabbed her wrist and smirked as he caused an electric pulse to run through his gauntlets. Cheshire gave a cry and dropped her sai while Naruto kicked her in the torso.

The dark haired girl was sent flying back and fell into a backwards roll. She eventually stopped and lay out on the ground with her arms spread before she slowly pushed her way back to her feet. As she did Naruto whistled to himself and kicked her sai off to the side. The girl shook her head and then tossed her remaining sai into her right hand and then dropped into a low crouch.

She then launched herself at the blond and stabbed at him once more. However he dodged to the side and playfully slapped her ass. She didn't seem to care though she did swing her sai at him from the side. However the blond grabbed her wrist and then roughly twisted her arm around behind her back. Cheshire gave a grunt of pain and then looked at the blond from over her shoulder.

"Ooh, I love it when you play rough," she teased. The blond rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Jeez Neko-Chan," he murmured with a shake of his head, "you sure got mouthy after you left the H.A.Y.E.P.," he noted then grinned, "I think I like it," he playfully remarked. The girl smirked as she then tried to plant her elbow in his face with her free arm but the blond vanished in a streak of red / black. The girl pouted and quickly turned to the blond, idly twirling her sai in her hand.

"What can I say," she began and crouched low, "You bring out the best in me!" she quipped as she lunged at the blond once more. She stabbed at him with her sai but he dodged to either side and then moved around behind her. Cheshire lashed out with a roundhouse kick but the blond caught her leg and flipped her into the air. Cheshire rolled into a spin and landed in another low crouch and proceeded to lash at him from low.

Naruto stepped back as she swiftly swung her sai at him in an attempt to stab him then finished and stabbed the sai at his foot. Naruto vanished before she could connect and the masked thief grabbed hold of her from behind. He took hold of both her wrists and pulled her back against him as he twisted her right wrist to the side. She grunted as she dropped her sai, and then blinked as a second Naruto briefly appeared and kicked it to the side.

"Ooh, I think I might learn to like that trick," she teased. Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned his mouth to her ear from over his shoulder as his clone vanished.

"Maybe… but might I ask what a naughty little girl like you is doing in a dump like this?" he questioned playfully. Cheshire struggled in his grip and then narrowed her eyes and gave a derisive chuckle.

"Well big boy, if you have to know," she remarked huskily, "after you beat me and Blood decided to kick me out of the H.A.Y.E.P., my master's sent someone else in to gather the intell they wanted from the H.I.V.E.," she began, she then reached a leg back and hooked it around one of his ankles and pulled forward. Naruto lost his footing and fell back, but swiftly rolled Cheshire onto her front and pinned her to the ground under him.

Cheshire struggled against his grip for a moment and then started to giggle to herself. "Ooh, kinky, I didn't take you for the type Tempest," she remarked then batted her lashes at him, "the least you could do is buy a girl dinner first," she noted playfully. Naruto snorted and twisted her arm at a painful angle.

"Truth be told I'd expect you to poison me if I did," he stated bluntly. Cheshire grinned.

"Aww I'm blushing, you know me so well already," she quipped. Naruto rolled his eyes and placed a hand on her head to force her face against the ground.

"I'm really running out of patience here, Neko-chan," he remarked. The girl grunted and glanced back at him.

"I remember you being more fun before," she noted. He just narrowed his eyes.

"Normally I'd be all for fun and games, but not when my friend is missing," he replied, "So shut up and start talking," he stated flatly. The green clad assassin's eyes sparkled in mirth.

"You know I can't shut up if you want me to tell you what you want, Tempest," she teased. Naruto grunted and placed a knee against her spine. He then pressed down on her spine till she hissed in pain as it popped painfully.

"Where is my friend?" he demanded firmly. Cheshire pouted.

"Spoilsport," she accused. He dug her face into the ground again and she grunted. "Oh fine, its like I said, after I got ousted my masters sent someone else to get some intell about the H.I.V.E.'s international locations. But then he got caught and the League sent me to retrieve the agent we lost to the H.I.V.E. as well as the intell to redeem myself for my loss to you," she admitted. Naruto arched a brow in surprise.

"How the fuck did they catch a shadow?" he questioned. The Shadows were some of the best assassins on the planet, bar none; even he wasn't stupid enough to say otherwise. He could take 'em sure, but he would never say they weren't the cream of the crop, at least for this world. The H.I.V.E. was like a bargain bin version of them at the absolute best.

"Funny story, it turns out that my will was strong enough to keep Blood from controlling me," she noted candidly, "the new guy wasn't so lucky," she admitted. Naruto snorted in response, though that did explain why he was also immune. _'Although Kurama probably had a claw in on it as well,'_ he admitted to himself. He then twisted Cheshire's hair until she hissed and she glared back at him.

"So where does Jinx fit in this equation?" he questioned. Cheshire was silent until he twisted her hair again.

"Do you really have to keep doing that?" she demanded, he then pressed his knee into her back instead. "Fine, whatever, I was watching the local H.I.V.E. agents hoping I might get lucky and find out where Cypher was being held. I spotted Jinx heading this way and waited till she got to the building, I knocked her out and left her with some nice JCPD officers and then got to test out my skills with these amateurs," she admitted.

Naruto halted his thoughts and his eyes widened. "C-Cypher?" he whispered in surprise then shook his head and focused on the girl. "Are you saying that Cypher was sent to the H.I.V.E. because you failed and then he was captured," the blond whispered slowly as he started to put a few mental puzzle pieces together. Cheshire raised a brow at the blond's distracted tone then slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah, turns out cybernetic implants don't stop Blood from controlling your mind," she remarked with a shake of her head. "Score one for good ol' fashioned will power," she noted with a giggle. Naruto's mind raced as he made several connections in his head. _'When I beat Cheshire, she was expelled from the H.A.Y.E.P. for being a Spy, so the League sent Cypher to get the intell they wanted,'_ he began and then widened his eyes.

' _But he was captured by Brother Blood, who then had access to his technology, he took that Willow girl and… oh Kami-Sama, I had an indirect hand in what happened to Cypher zero point three,'_ he noted and then shook his head. _'No wonder older me was so fucked up in the head, knowing he caused that to happen to her, even if only indirectly, it must've killed him inside,'_ he admitted to himself then shook his head.

He suddenly felt like he needed to thank Starfire for preventing that from happening.

' _I so don't want my own nemesis,'_ he thought with a shudder. Heroes and villains having a hand in creating one another was a well-known thing that just tended to happen. Naruto honestly wanted to avoid causing Cypher to become a reality in this timeline. Hell, her targeting him so much in that timeline actually made sense now. Not only did she have skills he couldn't really defend against, but he had also had a hand in her fate.

"So Jinx is at the JCPD," Naruto questioned with a shake of his head. He couldn't think about what he'd had a hand in creating. That timeline was done as far as he was concerned; if he had any say in it at all he was going to rip it apart at the seams until it fell apart and drifted into infinity.

"Yes," Cheshire replied drolly.

"And you just want Cypher?" the blond questioned. Cheshire sighed.

"Yes," she repeated, now more than a little annoyed.

"Good, then I'll help," he stated. Cheshire blinked in surprise as the blond released her and got back to his feet. Cheshire turned to the blond with an arched brow as he walked away. The girl frowned as she collected her sai then followed the blond haired ex-shinobi. She kept in step behind him, and saw him approach the door's lock silently. She idly crossed her arms and leaned against the wall next to it.

"You know, if this is an attempt to get in my pants then you should really try harder," she stated plainly. Naruto glanced at her and narrowed his eyes.

"Your hot I'll admit, but no thanks Neko-chan," he began and then smirked, "I don't know where you've been," he teased. Cheshire shot a scandalized look at the blond for his quip, and then turned as the door was opened. _'Truth be told, I just want to keep the future from coming true,'_ the blond admitted to himself as he looked inside. Within was a large room with a figure hanging from two large manacles on the far wall.

The figure in question was masculine, made up of grey and dark green metal plates with neon-green highlights across his body, his head had eight lights down the sides of his face and no visible eyes to be seen. Naruto glanced from it to Cheshire with a frown. "That him?" he questioned. The dark haired girl nodded her head and walked forward with a sway of her hips. She caught Naruto staring and smirked.

"You sure you're not trying?" she questioned. Naruto rolled his eyes in response.

"Nah, have fun though, I still have a friend to get," he stated. Cheshire pouted as the blond vanished in a blur of speed. _'Don't know where I've been, ha! What does he take me for?'_ she wondered to herself. She liked to have fun sure, but the number of men she considered worth the effort were few and far between. Regardless the girl focused on her mission and unlocked Cypher from his restraints.

The cybernetic man fell forward onto his hands and knees. He slowly looked up at the girl and then shakily started to rise. Cheshire moved to his side to help him back to his feet. "C'mon, lets get you back," she muttered then smirked, "We wouldn't want the master any angrier at you than he already is," the dark haired girl noted plainly. She grunted as she hefted the cyborg up and helped him out of the room.

00

(Jump City…)

Kitten Moth pouted as she walked home from Juvie. She'd finally be released after her little 'altercation' with the titans. Yet for some reason her father hadn't bothered to come get her. So instead the girl had to walk all the way from the other side of town to their quaint little suburban home. Kitten wasn't exactly an athlete, but thankfully she was still in decent shape. It had certainly helped with her popularity at school if nothing else.

Still, she was annoyed; her dad always did this. Whether it be father-daughter day at reform school, her ballet recital, her piano recital, 'miss teen Jump City', and apparently even getting her out of juvie… he was always too preoccupied with world domination to pay her any attention! It was bade enough that she was honestly starting to think she needed to do something to get back at him for it!

She swore if he missed her birthday just because of his stupid hobby…

' _Rotten no good lame moth man wannabe!'_ she internally snarled. What did she have to do for the moth man to pay her some attention? Rob a fucking bank? Get into a fight with the Titans again? She paused her thoughts and considered an idea…

' _Yeah, I could pull a 'Joker's Daughter' on the Titans and dress up as all kinds of their villains or something,'_ she considered after a moment of thought. _'I guess the Puppet King is doable,'_ she considered, all she'd need were some puppets and remote controls of some kind. _'Maybe Brother Blood,'_ she mused to herself, she could like… well… giant bees? Yeah that seemed like it kind of fit with the 'H.I.V.E.' thing.

' _Control Freak?'_ she considered and slowly nodded her head. She could lift one of his remotes and modify it or something… _'Ooh, I could even use videogames instead of movies!'_ she decided with a grin. She then considered what other villains she could use for her idea. _'Mad Mod,'_ she considered, then had an idea of the cute outfit she'd get to use, _'yep!'_ she decided with a nod of her head.

' _I wonder who else could I use?'_ she considered as she thought of all the Titan villains she knew. She threw any idea for a 'Moth-Girl' right out the window however. She was already the daughter of Killer Moth so that would just be redundant. _'Well… there is that Red-X guy who showed up the other day,'_ she considered. A feminine color of red would be pink and that was her favorite color… and it did go well with basic black…

She paused her thoughts as she finally reached her home. She walked up the nondescript driveway and entered the painfully normal house without ceremony. Inside was no different, an average house no one would ever give a second glance too if they ever stepped inside. Say what you will about Killer Moth, but he did want to raise her in a semi-normal environment at the very least.

Sure he fell short with the villain thing, but she kind of liked that part about him. She just didn't like that he was always more focused on world-domination than her! There was of course no sign of her moth-man chronicles reject of a father anywhere. He hadn't even so much as bothered to put together some lame surprise party to welcome her back or anything! She felt her brow twitch in irritation and marched inside with a grumble.

She paused to let out a yawn and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. She paused her thoughts when she heard a yawn and spotted her cousin walking out of their guest bedroom.

Willow 'Chitin' Nigredo was older than Kitten as well as a smidge taller than her, with deeply tanned skin, grass green eyes, messy dark brown hair, and a beauty mark on her right cheekbone. She was dressed in a high-collared halter top, black cargo shorts, black bicep length sleeves with slits for her thumbs, and a simple pair of socks at the moment since she didn't need her usual black combat boots indoors.

' _She really needs more diversity in her wardrobe,'_ Kitten thought to herself. _'I mean I get that she likes black, but she needs some red or grey, or maybe some green to go with her eyes,'_ she considered to herself. She then shook her head of such thoughts and instead focused on her cousin. "Willow?" she questioned after a moment of hesitation. Her cousin looked at her blearily and then raised a hand in greeting.

"Howdy Kitkat," she offered in a distinct southern drawl. However she realized what she did and physically slapped herself across the face. "I meant hi," she amended as she rubbed her face and yawned again. Kitten blinked and then breathed a sigh of relief. That was enough for her to believe it was really be her cousin. The girl was raised in the south after all, even if she liked to hide her accent… till she got angry or excited anyway.

She followed her cousin as the older girl stumbled into the also painfully normal looking kitchen. Willow babbled something under her breath as she started to raid the cupboards while Kitten idly sat herself down at the table and watched her start to make a pack of ramen noodles. Err, correction, two packs of the stuff. _'How does she eat so many of those things?'_ the blond wondered to herself.

As she did her cousin yawned yet again and stretched her arms over her head. Kitten idly looked the older girl over for anything strange and then was relieved to see nothing out of the ordinary. Thankfully nothing seemed out of place, but that still begged the question, "what are you doing here?" she finally asked. In her defense while Willow lived in Jump City, she was a student at the H.A.Y.E.P. the last time the blond had checked.

"Huh?" Willow mumbled confusedly as she rubbed at her eyes. She blinked her eyes after a moment and seemed only slightly more alert than she'd been a moment ago. Kitten frowned impatiently and glared at the older girl.

"Why are you here?" she repeated. Willow blinked after a moment and then hummed.

"Your dad got pissed for some reason and busted me out of the school," she replied with a shrug then frowned. "Yeah, I think someone spilled the beans about the fact that Brother Blood actually has telepathic powers and he freaked out or something," the brunette replied. She then yawned into her hand and cracked her neck. "Your dad can be pretty weird sometimes," she remarked candidly and Kitten snorted.

"You have no idea," she murmured then narrowed her eyes on the older girl, "And that still doesn't explain why you're here?" the blond pressed. Her cousin hummed in response and tapped her foot impatiently. After a moment Kitten sighed and poked her cousin in the shoulder. Willow glanced back at her distractedly and blinked.

"Oh… uh, well your dad said I could stay as long as I like," she admitted then turned back to her pot of noodles. Kitten frowned and started to drum her fingers on the counter. Willow glanced at her and grinned nervously. "It wasn't like I was gonna stick around the school with mister mind control around," she remarked, Kitten inclined her head, "Sides that, my dad's a dick," she remarked bluntly. Kitten frowned and crossed her arms.

"He's," she began and Willow shot a look at her.

"Blind, not deaf and certainly not stupid," Willow growled. Kitten wisely didn't comment. Her issues with her father were pretty bad, but at least they loved one another. Her cousin's issues with her father were the stuff of infamy. Then again with a father like Two-Bit, the information broker of Gotham, that wasn't saying too much. The guy was a Gotham native after all and that said something about him…

"So why are you only just waking up?" Kitten questioned. To be honest she didn't want to get into her cousin's issues with her father. Willow stayed out of the issues between Kitten and Killer Moth, and she respected that.

"Me and some friends were on Overwatch all night," the older girl admitted tiredly. She then yawned and fanned her mouth. "Ugh… way too many all nighters recently," the brunette muttered to herself. Kitten rolled her eyes in response.

"Well then maybe someone shouldn't stay up at all hours of the night to play silly videogames," she remarked. Willow glanced at her and stuck her tongue out childishly, then turned back to her noodles.

"Whatever," the older girl said after a moment. She also took her noodles off the stove and started to fix them up. Kitten glanced at them and then grimaced in disgust when she saw two different packs of ramen.

"Are you mixing chicken with shrimp?" she demanded with a shudder. Willow blinked and then nodded her head. "I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again," Kitten began and then pointed an accusing finger at the older girl, "Your weird!" she declared. Willow rolled her eyes and sat down at the table.

"My armor needs me to eat certain stuff to form," she reminded. However Kitten snorted and crossed her arms. Her cousin had the ability to grow a carapace of armor over her entire body. The armor was made of chitin, the chitin was formed out of a viscous green slime that hardened into any shape she wanted. Unfortunately the carapace grew over her skin and so ripped any clothes she was wearing… till her father got involved anyways.

He'd gotten the older girl some clothes that her 'slime' would seep through and that her armor could form over. It was made of a bio-organic silk as far as she knew, but how the clothes functioned, she didn't know, she just knew they worked and Willow could grow armor over her clothes… well, most of her clothes. Her shorts weren't made of the same material; they were just loose enough that her armor could form under it so long as she didn't add spikes on her legs.

"Since your armor is made out of chitin it only requires you to ingest large amounts of glucose to form more of it," the blond girl stated pointedly. Her cousin paused at that and then slowly nodded her head. Normally people didn't know that Chitin was a form of glucose, so she'd often used it as an excuse for her odd eating habits. The truth was that it actually took quite a bit more than just glucose to form…

But Willow didn't want to argue semantics right now; she was too tired for it.

Instead she started to eat her noodles while Kitten stared at her in disgust. She then blinked as her father walked into the kitchen. He was human once, but he'd been a tall mutated moth man for a while now. He had blue-black compound eyes, metallic grey 'teeth' with a pair of antenna and was mostly grey and black with white fur around his neck and wings that hung down his back like a cape.

At the moment he was distracted as he tinkered with a pair of metallic bracelets. "Willow, are you really sure this is a good idea? I mean it has some merit sure, but wouldn't actually trying to swing on these things be just as likely to rip your arms out of joint?" the mutated moth-man commented with a frown in his voice. The moth man paused and looked up; he arched a brow when he noticed Kitten.

Wasn't she still in juvie?

The girl in question narrowed her eyes on her father, a low growl rumbling in her throat. There was an awkward silence as the father and daughter stared at one another. The silence was broken by Willow as she stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She then popped her neck and walked over to Killer Moth, where she fished the wrist-mounted devices from his hands.

"Never planned to swing on 'em, just wanted a way to deal with any stupid people that decide to annoy me that doesn't involve punching them with spiked fists or stabbing 'em with blades uncle Drury," she noted aloud. The Moth Man glanced at her with a bemused expression and shook his head.

"Its Killer Moth, not Drury, I had my name legally changed," he reminded the girl. He also felt that spiked fists or blades would be a much better way to deal with annoyances. Then again he was also a Gotham native and that probably wasn't a normal opinion. Then again, he was of the opinion that normal was overrated in his opinion. She rolled her eyes and then slipped the bracelets on around her wrists.

"Besides, I could always reinforce my arms with my armor," she noted, ignoring his comment. Killer Moth inclined his head with a nod. "Anyways I'll leave you two to chat," she remarked and raised her wrists, "I'mma check out my new toys now," the girl declared cheerfully. She then walked out of the room and Killer Moth and Kitten blinked. A beat passed and Kitten looked at her father with a deadpanned expression.

"You seriously went and made her web shooters?" she questioned flatly; "Doesn't she have enough of a connection to bugs without them?" she demanded. Kitten was of the opinion her cousin didn't get out much because of how people treated her. When she used to go to 'normal' school, her classmates called her a 'slug' because of how she formed her armor out of slime.

"Err… technically speaking they aren't 'web shooters' but 'Silk-Shooters'," Killer Moth noted and then paused, "This is because they are based on a moth silk, though some other insects make silk like silkworms, honeybees, bumblebees, hornets, beetles," the moth man started to list only to pause at a look from his daughter. The blond's brow twitched, she inhaled a breath, and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Why was it her father wasn't able to see her point?

"Daddy, I don't care about that," she stated blandly, "I meant isn't she made fun of by normal people enough without making herself even stranger?" she grumbled. Killer Moth blinked and an ominous clicking sound suddenly started up once more. Kitten knew the sound meant her father was pissed, she just didn't know how he made it. Regardless she watched as Killer Moth started to crack his knuckles.

"Who's made fun of her?" he demanded. Kitten groaned and palmed her face.

"Daddy eating some random teen's face off for calling her a slug isn't going to help," she stated with a shake of her head. Killer Moth snorted in response.

"I wouldn't eat them," he stated firmly, "I'd cocoon 'em and stick 'em up on a roof somewhere," he stated with a nod. "It's much more horrible since they starve to death," he remarked with a nod. Kitten plainly didn't care. Her father had done that much and worse in his early career so she was honestly desensitized to it by now. Thus far he'd tried to keep himself off of the titans radar of course, but only because of Robin.

Killer Moth really didn't want Batman coming to get him…

"Not helping daddy," Kitten told her father plainly. The moth man muttered to himself and then crossed his arms.

"In my defense, they were her idea," he remarked with a solemn nod. Kitten just stared at her father and he started to sweat, "And she did have a point about them being more useful than the gun," he remarked. Kitten paused to consider that for a moment, and then inclined her head. A pair of wrist-mounted variants of his old Silk-Spitter-Gun was definitely more useful than the bulky gun he'd used for years.

But again, not the point she was trying to get across!

"Wait, has someone been making fun of you?" Killer Moth demanded. Kitten groaned and palmed her face. _'Of course he'd jump to conclusions,'_ she thought with a sigh. Truth be told, she was popular in school. Kitten was a Meta-Human like Willow, true, but her power was far better received than Willow's. Mostly cause it wasn't bug or slime related. The ability to alter her appearance to anything she wanted was pretty cool after all.

"No daddy, no one is making fun of me," she stated flatly, "I'm popular and no one is dumb enough to mess with a super villain's daughter," she stated with a sigh. That unfortunately made genuine friends exceedingly rare outside of family, as most normal people were terrified of her father. Well unless they were villains or heroes that is… but that never seemed to turn out well for her as Fang and Kwiz Kid, her ex boyfriends, could attest.

Or maybe she just had really bad luck with dating.

"Really?" Killer Moth questioned. Kitten nodded her head and the moth man muttered to himself. He then looked at Kitten and scratched his head. "By the way Kitten, aren't you still supposed to be in Juvie?" he questioned, mostly to change the subject. He also made a note to have a friend tail Willow and Kitten, then find out who was making fun of them. When he found out… well he wasn't sure what he'd do to them, but it wouldn't be pretty.

"No," Kitten suddenly growled with narrowed eyes, "I actually got let out today," she stated calmly then started to twitch violently, "But you forgot to pick me up!" she snarled at the moth-man. Killer Moth yelped and backed away from his daughter slowly as she started to rise up from her seat.

"N-Now Kitten calm down, there's no need to do anything rash," the moth man tried to placate, but the girl was having none of it!

"Oh no! You are so not getting out of this you crazy moth man reject! I had to walk all the way home from Juvie because you forgot I got out today!" she snarled. Killer Moth winced and rubbed the back of his head.

"C-calm down Kitten," he bade in a placating tone, however the blond girl just continued to growl.

"Shut it!" she ordered. Killer Moth went silent while the blond haired girl huffed and crossed her arms. "I expect you to remember this, I'm only letting you off cause you had to move Willow into the house," she declared. Killer Moth breathed a sigh of relief, then snerked as the girl pointed at him. "But next time something like this happens I swear I'll make you regret it!" she declared. Killer Moth groaned, but nodded all the same…

He'd honestly expected as much…

00

(JCPD…)

Many would think the sight of Jinx in the JCPD's lockup was a common occurrence. Truth be told it wasn't actually that common. She had been there maybe once in a blue moon. So imagine her surprise when she woke up in the hands of the JCPD of all people. And then to have an old… err… 'Friend', pull her into an interview room. So there she sat with a pout and a look at the old 'friend' in front of her.

"Honestly," the man grunted in a gravely voice, "Why do you do this to yourself Jill?" the man questioned and took a puff of his cigarette. Jinx sniffed in distaste and glared at the man playfully.

"Why do you kill yourself with those death sticks?" she quipped in response. The man mutely lifted a hand, and then raised his middle finger in her direction. "Also, are you even allowed to smoke in here?" she questioned. The man silently raised his other hand to flip her off with it as well. Jinx snorted and then snickered to herself. "You haven't changed a bit, same old Officer Connors," she stated with a shake of her head.

The older man grunted and then leaned forward. "Look who's talking," he noted, "you're still getting yourself in trouble," he remarked dryly. She shrugged her shoulders in response. The man grunted and then reached to the side and tossed the girl an apple. She caught it automatically and then looked to it with a blink of her eyes.

"You remembered I like the sour ones," she noted cheerily. The older man rolled his eyes in response.

"Given how often I ended up feeding you, it's not that surprising," he replied. Jinx rolled her eyes and bit into the apple while she looked at the man dressed in a standard uniform. His dark brown hair had started to grey above his ears, his blue eyes were the same yet also wearier, but she also noticed a few extra wrinkles here and there that worried her.

' _He looks… a lot older,'_ she thought to herself with a frown. She idly chewed her apple and then swallowed. _'Too old,'_ she noted to herself worriedly. But she knew that he would never tell her what was going on with him. It was, unfortunately, better to just ignore it and try for something easy. "So why the transfer?" she questioned. Officer David 'Jack' Connors grunted in response.

"Needed a change of scenery," he replied. However Jinx let out a hum.

"So what about aunt Meryl?" she questioned. She wasn't her real aunt of course. But she liked the woman and tended to think of her as an aunt. Still she watched officer Connors wince and narrowed her eyes. "Did something happen between you two?" she questioned. The man glanced at her and held up two fingers.

"Rule two," he stated bluntly. Jinx rolled her eyes in response. She remembered what rule 2 was all right. _'I hereby hold the right to deny or withhold any information I deem necessary,'_ she thought with a slight shake of her head. "Now what is this I hear about you and those titan kid's having some kind of feud?" the man questioned. Jinx mentally groaned and leaned forward on the table with a pout.

"Well to be fair it isn't much of a feud as it is professional differences," she countered. Officer Connors merely arched a brow in response and she winced. She then sighed and started to drum her fingers on the table. "Well It all started when me and my friend's graduated from the H.A.Y.E.P. Our first gig was being hired by a guy by the name, Slade," she began and didn't notice Connors narrow his eyes.

' _Probably means the mercenary Deathstroke the Terminator, AKA Slade Wilson,'_ he mused to himself. He idly pulled his cig from his lips as he continued to listen to Jinx, his mind wandering to the past experience he had with the man. _'He was always an efficient bastard, not to mention good at what he did,'_ he admitted as he blew out a puff of smoke, _'although he was also too proud for his own good'_ he finished…

Meanwhile at the front of the JCPD building a young man slowly made his way inside. He walked in from the rain, water streaming from his clothes to pool on the tiled floor. He idly flicked a sandaled foot to the side as he made his way to the front desk. His long poncho like brown cloak with the hood drawn up was his oddest article of clothing; the black high collared shirt and dull grey pants he wore didn't really register as odd.

He walked slowly but with purpose. A few officers glanced at him as they walked passed but paid him no further mind. The black haired young man soon stood before the officers at the front desk. He opened a pair of odd mismatched eyes, one red with three tomoe, the other pale lavender with several rings and tomoe. The police at the desk briefly wondered if the strange young man was wearing contacts before he spoke.

"I'm looking for someone," he stated bluntly. His voice was even, but his tone was ice cold. The officers glanced at one another then back at the strange young man.

"What the hell are you supposed to be dressed up as kid?" one of the two, a woman, questioned bluntly. The young man merely frowned in response.

"Do you have any kind of records for incoming and outgoing individuals?" he then questioned. Both officers stared at him incredulously, then glanced at one another. The first, a man, just shook his head, while the other, a woman, snorted and then snickered into her hand. The first officer then turned back to the young man with a sigh.

"Kid with as many people as there are who enter and exit the city on the day to day basis there is literally no possible way for us to keep track of them all," the man replied. The young man mutely frowned in annoyance. He'd hoped that the police were similar to the AnBu of his home. Keeping records was vital to ensuring agents from enemy nations didn't infiltrate their village.

But clearly he hadn't taken into account the size of this nation. Konoha was less than half the size of this single city, it would be infinitely more difficult to monitor and keep track of incoming and outgoing individuals. They might have records for those 'airplane' things but he doubted Naruto would bother taking one of them. Which meant finding his friend would take far more time and effort than he cared to give…

Well, there were other ways of getting him out in the open of course. All trails had led him and the others back to this city. The fact that he hadn't bothered to leave was only somewhat surprising. Uzumaki Naruto had always been unpredictable after all. But the problem was that the other methods would make them other enemies… or… rather, they would make _**him**_ other enemies.

Why involve the rest of his team when he could take the blame on himself. Uchiha Sasuke was not someone who was known to work well with others. Nor was he a very patient person. He liked to be on his own and Naruto himself would definitely admit that any actions Sasuke took, where only a reflection of his own character, not that of his team. So with that in mind, and knowing that Naruto wouldn't let him run amok.

Uchiha Sasuke made his choice… and reached for his Chokatou.

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN** : Yes, Naruto being in the timeline directly lead to Cheshire changing from her TT self into her YJ self… I thought it appropriate. It also helps set the tone for this story as being a bit more mature. This is especially true seeing as my writing has evolved since I first wrote RXR. And just in case anyone has ever wondered. That thing with Naruto removing Cheshire's sash was actually based on a scene from another Anime. Specifically it is based on Outlaw Star, where Gene Starwind pulled off Twilight Suzuka's sash in order to defeat her. I remembered that scene from when I was a kid when I wrote the original story, so of course it appears here as well.

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ERROR…ERROR

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STATIC…

A girl appears and sits behind a desk with her hands clasped together. Her skin is fair, her deep crimson red hair swept back into spikes, her eyes covered by a purple domino mask. She wears a sleeveless green high collared unitard with a purple collar and large black question marks positioned at her chest and hips, a purple utility belt with a question mark buckle, purple thigh high boots with black question marks, and black bicep length sleeves with slits for her thumbs. She briefly smiles and closes her eyes behind her mask.

"Hello, I'm the Nostalgic Critic, I remember it so you don't have to," she declared and then paused, "Oh wait, that's not me," she decided with a shake of her head. She then turned in her seat and kicked a gold question mark shaped cane into the air. She caught it out of the air with one hand and then leaned it along her shoulders and wrapped her arms around it.

"I'm Duela! The Riddler's Daughter!" the girl exclaimed joyously. She then snickered to herself as she leaned back and propped her feet on her desk. "Now you're all probably wondering," she began then took a mock frightened expression, "'But Duela, aren't you the Joker's Daughter? What madness is this?!'" she remarked and then snorted and shook her head as she bobbed one foot up and down.

"Well if any of you know about the Pre-Crisis Duela, then you probably know what I'm doing here and think everyone else is silly," she remarked and then frowned. "And yes I mean Pre-Crisis, not just Pre-Flashpoint," she stated firmly. "The author is of the opinion that the Pre-Crisis Duela was a very different character to her Pre-Flashpoint iteration. Mostly because she actually used different personas," she remarked and then leaned back with a hum.

"And if you think this means I'm 'Enigma' well then think again," she stated flatly and then pouted, "Enigma is Dad's Pre-Flashpoint daughter, as in another daughter… yeah the guy actually had another kid, go figure," she remarked with a shrug and tapped her foot to a beat only she could hear. "Anyways with all of that out of the way I'd like to personally welcome you to my new place!" she declared with a bright smile.

She then hopped out of her chair and walked over to a doorway. She kicked it open and walked into the dark dank halls of a large building. Her camera followed her seemingly on its own as she twirled her cane at her side. She briefly glanced back and hummed to herself as they passed by walls with graffiti spray painted on them. Eventually the girl walked out of the front door and motioned for her camera to get a good look at the place.

What is revealed is a large desolate building, one that looks as if it had been abandoned years earlier. This is furthered by the fact it is over grown with vines and weeds all over. Duela briefly looks around and then clears her throat. "Welcome friends," she declares and spreads her arms out in welcome, "to Happy Hands Sanitarium," she exclaimed with a motion to the building. Dead silence follows.

"Please, please, hold your applause as this is only the beginning of our tour," she bade as she waved the non-existent audience down. She then twirled her cane in her hand. "I'm sure that all of you are curious how I got her so fast, right?" she questioned. "Now I could say that since the author never gave you a concrete location for where I was it just didn't take me that long to get here… but…" she began and then held up a black device with a white circle on it.

"Boom Tube Generator Bitches!" she declared with her arms raised into the air then paused, "or is it a motherbox?" she questioned, then shrugged. "Aw who cares? I have one and I totally want to turn it into something small like the hilt of Bekka's sword from the Gods and Monsters universe," she admitted with a happy smile as she turned the device around in her hands.

She then calmed down and cleared her throat as she slipped the device behind her back. "Now first of all, a little info about this place," she stated with a nod. "Happy Hands Sanitarium, a wonderful little place located on the outskirts of Jump City, this once fine institution was shut down after yours truly caused a little bit of mayhem," she explained, and then paused. She idly scratched her head with her cane as her eyes went glassy.

"Huh… that's odd, I can't actually seem to recall what I did that caused this place to shutdown anymore," she admitted to herself. "It was something bad though… like really bad… like a horribly… awfully… monstrously… incredibly _**bad day**_ …." she murmured slowly. She looked around and began to hyperventilate her eyes were like pinpricks as they darted all around; someone called her name, terrified screams echoed, the sounds of gunshots thundered… and soulless haunting laughter roared into infinity…

"A-Anyways!" she swiftly declared with a nervous smile, "Its here that I plan to have some fun with the Titans…" she paused to consider that, "or whomever else I manage to get to show up," she admitted with a shrug. She then leaned towards her camera to stage whisper. "I'm kind of easy," she admitted, then blinked and narrowed her eyes, "But not in that way," she growled in indignation.

"Now then," she remarked as she sauntered back into the building. Her camera continued to follow her, somehow focusing on her swaying hips as it did. "As I once considered I'll be pulling an Arkham Incident, but with a little of my own flare added to the mix!" the redhead declared. She then clicked her tongue as she looked around the place as she went, "a few changes here and there and this place will be great!" she stated with a nod.

"What I plan to do is pull a me on them, I'll lure 'em here and then have them try to find me while I get to mess with 'em!" she stated with a nod and grinned, "I wonder if I can make Starfire angry if I mention how Robin and I used to date?" she considered for a moment. Duela shook such thoughts off and walked inside of a room with a number of file cabinets.

The redheaded girl idly started to sift through the cabinets' contents and occasionally glanced back at her camera. "I'll probably also leave a few clues to my past around for the titans to find in semi-random places. Though I'll do so for you the audience as well as the titans," she remarked as she pulled out a particular folder. Oddly though, the name didn't say Duela but she quickly covered it with a hand.

"Ah ah ah," she remarked with a wag of her finger, "No peeking!" she stated. She then took a black marker and started to black out this or that in the file that was unimportant, her eyes glassing over as she wrote a few less than flattering remarks about this doctor or that nurse as she did. She idly walked to the back of the room as she did, then closed the file and slipped it under her arm as she started to open up more cabinets.

"Aha!" she remarked as she found a set of tapes and grinned, "One of the authors favorite parts about Arkham Asylum was finding the voice-tapes and other tidbits for the Batman villains, he also loved solving the riddles," she explained then motioned to herself, "hence where I come in," she stated with a nod of her head. "That in mind those are two things he wants to put in and I am more than happy to oblige!" she declared. She then frowned for a moment.

"Although making specific riddles for this might be a bit difficult… even for me," she admitted then shrugged, "But meh, I'll figure something out eventually," she remarked as she then started to collect the tapes that referred to her. She paused however when she noticed that one she needed was missing. "Huh… well I guess the police _**would**_ have that one," she admitted to herself then shrugged.

"Oh well, guess I have to go grab that while Sasuke makes a mess of the JCPD," she mused and then turned back to her camera. "But before then, Q and A time!" she declared with a bright grin on her face. "So back to my room!" she declared and walked back to said room with a twirl of her cane. She paused to glare at her camera, "and stop watching my ass!" she growled. The camera looked up sharply and the girl nodded with a 'humph'.

They walked back to her room and the girl turned around to regard her camera once more. "Before any of you think I have henchmen using my camera, no, no I don't, I have a robot doing it," she stated with a nod, then frowned, "Unfortunately I also tend to leave a lot of bugs in the OS which causes the them to be a bit… glitchy," she remarked. She then scratched her head with her cane and shrugged.

"Whatever," she remarked as she walked to her desk and sat down. She tossed her cane to the side then reached over and turned her computer on, then looked at the reviews, "Wow, lots of people are still showing me the love," she remarked with a smile. She hummed as she looked them over, "So first of all the author wanted me to make one thing perfectly clear," the girl began and then pulled a blow horn from her desk.

" _ **NARUTO AND RAVEN WILL NOT BE PAIRED IN THIS STORY, HE'S SORRY BUT HE FEELS THAT THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY STORIES FEATURING THAT PAIRING AS IT IS!**_ " she screamed into the blow horn then set it down. "Also, to everyone who says that Naruto and Starfire is the 'second most used' pairing… ugh… we actually looked and that is kind of a falsity," she remarked and leaned into her fist.

"Starfire is kind of the second most used, but half of them were written by one guy, _**Kyuubi16**_ to be exact, and for another, a majority of the stories in question are Harem stories with Raven in the pairing as well so no, they don't count," the redhead explained. "Anyways, not why I'm here, **nightmaster000** asks: **Will Tartarus have the same exact line up as the last version?** " the girl leaned back in her seat and clicked her tongue.

"No, the author had a funny idea that most of them got next to no screen time," she stated and then started to cough, "Private HIVE, Seemore, and Mammoth," she remarked and then cleared her throat. "Sorry about that, but in any case the author wants to try and flesh out the members this time. He started with Mammoth this chapter, and he'll continue to do so from here," she explained.

"As for you're other question… well, yes, yes it will," she remarked with a grin. "Next," she murmured and looked at her list. " **KuronoDono12** , uhhhh… thanks, I think," she murmured and scratched her head, "it honestly depends on which version of me you saw," she admitted. "The author actually drew me, but he doesn't have a scanner so my design is kind of not out there," she remarked and shrugged.

" **Noir117** , the author actually agrees with you on this," Duela admitted with a frown, "However he was never really able to think up good 'mercenary work' for the entire team to do. He hadn't read Suicide Squad back then so didn't really know how he could work with an 'evil team' and even then the Suicide Squad are a bit too violent for this bunch he depicts, so yeah, that was part of the problem. So to anyone out there feel free to suggest jobs they could do together if you have an idea," she stated then paused and grinned.

"Oooohhh! I know! We could totally have you guys be their early 'clients' or something sending them jobs! Tartarus won't be formed for another few chapters so we could have the audience suggests missions before they do, then have you guys vote on the best ones and implement them as actual jobs for them!" she declared and then looked to the camera with a wide grin, "So what do you guys think of that idea?" she questioned.

She then cleared her throat and calmed back down as she turned back to her computer, she then frowned when she saw the next questioned. "Another one," she murmured and then rubbed her temples. " **fanfic lunatic** , and really to anyone else who wants to know, _**Dark Lord**_ won't be updated, the author has kind of decided to 'revamp' it again like he's doing with _**RXR**_ , but he's not sure when ' _ **Dark Lord Evolution**_ ' will officially drop," she replied and then sighed.

" _ **Noctus Of The Thousand Blades**_ ," Duela paused at the name and read the review carefully then turned to the camera. "Funny story, but the Author is the same way, used to take medicine because he was hyper in school, he still has trouble concentrating, and he's also literally got dozens of half made chapters on a flash drive," she explained and then shook her head, "As for the 'boring' scenes he does occasionally have problems with 'em but he always puts them at the 'back burner' as he calls it," she noted.

"That means he thinks about it while he's working or doing some other activity, and allows his otherwise wandering thoughts to think on ways he could do the scenes in question. Nine times out of ten it takes a month, but he eventually has something," she explained then smiled. "He's actually considering posting a bunch of the chapters he writ in a story just for his ideas," she noted and then shrugged. "Not all of them are Naruto X-Overs either, but that's for another time," she decided with a nod of her head.

" **zack silverstone** ," she began and then rolled her eyes, "One, he hasn't fully decided the pairing and is instead setting up foundations for a number of them in advance for when he does ultimately decide. Two, the author doesn't like trying to write lemons, for one he never has, for another he thinks he'd be bad at it, and for a number of other reasons as well," she stated and then moved on once more.

" **Devilscreed** , _**Thresh**_? Who the heck is Thresh?" Duela paused and clicked onto Google to search for a character. She found one for _**League of Legends**_ and blinked in surprise. "Huh… actually the Author didn't know about this guy, he really only knew of _**Jinx**_ from _**LOL**_ , he made Masquerade quite a few years ago and never got to use him in anything. Originally he was called Mask Master, but he evolved to be more, well… long story short we're considering making him part of the main story, as he'd be one of the rare enemies Naruto can't outright destroy short of the league," she explained.

"The author is considering arcs with DP, but he's having problems figuring out how to balance those fights. He's a fan of both Danny and Naruto so it's difficult for him to see either lose. This is also because both are kind of OP in their own way. In a purely physical fight Naruto trumps Phantom, but with his Ghost Powers Danny would have an immediate advantage," she mused and then shook her head.

"Either way it'll be interesting," she stated. She then hummed, "This story takes place exactly on the episode 'X' which is after the first episode of season three 'Deception' and just before the 'Betrothed' episode. The episode 'Haunted' happens after that. This means that this takes place in Season Three, one season before Raven's arc, and right when the original story started," she explained and then hummed to herself.

" **DarkLord98** , aw thanks! I'm probably not going to be zany cray cray every AN, but what can you do," she remarked with a grin. " **Apedreitor** ," she paused and looked at her fingers. "Maybe… I could probably use some Venom to increase my strength or something but I don't think it'd have the same effect," she remarked and then hummed. "Moving on," she decided with a shake of her head.

" **D N Walker** , first of all, I tend to act out sometimes," Duela offered and then paused in thought, "though why that is," she murmured then shook her head. "Never mind, anyways. Yes I do know of my 'fairy' self, technically Unseelie but who here is actually making note of something so small," she remarked then snickered at the bad joke. "The rest is answered somewhere up above. So moving on," she noted with a smile.

" **DBlade59** , the point is more based on showing what was the future and showing how different the characters are in it. Naruto is more serious, more careful, and less fun than the one in the past. Cypher… well she went from a lazy gamer chick to constantly thinking and unable to take a moment to rest, Gizmo… well Gizmo never changes," she remarked with a fond smile.

"As far as Jutsu goes, Naruto knows all the Jutsu he did at the end of the war, as well as a few random ones. Most of them are from the 'Naruto Ultimate Ninja' series where in the early tittles Naruto could learn Jutsu from random people in Konoha for doing stuff for them, the Author uses this to explain how he knows a number of Jutsu he otherwise wouldn't know, as well as some samurai techniques," she explained then hummed.

Duela checks the next one and grimaces, "Sorry **WindyCitySlayer1** , but the author honestly hates any pairing with Supergirl, you want done to death, that is the text book definition. Literally any crossover with DC nine times out of ten will include Kara there in the pairing for some reason. He honestly doesn't like it so will not even consider it," she explained then grinned.

"Now if you wanted Powergirl, that is a whole other story," Duela stated, "And yes, there is a difference between them aside from cup size," she stated bluntly, "Powergirl at least has her own thing, IE, while she's Superman's cousin she doesn't still wear the blue and red or have 'Super' in her name like he does or work in metropolis, she's stationed in New York, has her own business, etc etc. Now as for Raven, ugh…" she shook her head.

She paused and then hummed at the next bit, "Batgirl," she murmured and tapped her chin, "Well he certainly likes Barb so lets leave it at that," she stated with a shrug. She then grinned cheekily, "Unless you meant one of the _**other**_ Batgirls, and yes there are plural batgirls, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Bette Kane," she remarked then paused and looked up sharply.

"Moving on," she murmured, " **axc-o** ," she began then grinned, "Thanks! The Author did write a story with me in it but there's no telling if that was his fic you're thinking of. Stories with me are rare in general because the authors at DC kind of killed me off for being too hard to deal with or something, oh and replaced me with Harley Quinn since she was easier to deal with," the girl remarked and sighed.

"Well… lets just say it's a long story and the author doesn't want to have me rant about it right now," she stated and frowned. "Even though he wrote it out and then deleted it because it took too long. Anyways, point is DC kind of killed me, only to bring me back as the psycho who wears Joker's face as a macabre mask," she explained with a shiver, "how that made sense I don't know," she admitted.

" **Kiue Jin** ," she paused to smile brightly, "Thank you! It's kind of hard to be my own character sometimes, but the author likes me so it makes it easier for him to come up with ideas for my personality! He admits however that I do have a rather tragic back story as a result and…" Duela paused and blinked, "Wait what? I actually have a back story that explains why I'm like this this time?" she questioned with a look around.

"Huh… for some reason I have cold chills going down my spine," she remarked and then cleared her throat. "A-anyways," she remarked with a nervous look around. "I do kind of have a plan for my asylum as you can see, it's just not a ripoff of Arkham, I want it to be fun, not deadly," the girl stated with a nod of her head. "Dead people aren't fun anymore, I don't see why the Joker insists on killing them," she remarked with a shrug.

" **OBSERVER01** , dude! I totally remember you from the original story!" Duela declared, "wow it's been a while, do you like just monitor Fanfiction or something? I mean granted I hate monitors, for obvious reasons, but the author agrees with me on this, you're everywhere!" she declared brightly, "I mean it's awesome to see you again, but just wow…" she remarked and then shook her head as she moved on.

" **Kamen Rider Ebon** ," she remarked and then clicked her tongue, "Not really, mostly because Wildfire was actually a mistranslation of Ryand'r, Starfire's brother's actual name," she explained then leaned her cheek into her open palm. "The translation of it is actually 'Darkfire' and yes that is cannon in the comics, he went missing in the cartoon version and the author is too lazy to go looking for him," she remarked with a smile.

"Hi **PugTheMagician**! First of all, thanks! Second, its nice to talk to you!" the redhead declared cheerfully. "As far as me in a relationship goes, I can actually be quite serious about them, but with my shifting moods they can also be quite the roller coaster for whoever I'm with as well. I think that is part of why my relationships never last long…" she remarked and started to stare off into space…

"Well that and they were all with 'Robins'. My original Pre-Crisis self briefly dated Dick, and my Pre-Flashpoint self apparently had a relationship with Talon, the alternate evil version of Tim, so yeah," she remarked with a frown. "Now with Naruto I can see why it might work out a bit better, both pranksters, both not heroes but not villains, both like to mess with Robin, seems like a pretty good match," she remarked.

"But meh," she shrugged then grinned brightly. "Well I think that's all for this chapter," she decided with a nod and smiled at her camera, "be sure to post more questions or ideas for the future! Until then, I'm Duela the Riddler's Daughter, and I have a literal ass load of riddles to try and make…" she paused and gave a dramatic sigh, "Man, I might just cop out and do a bunch of hidden question marks… yeah, might be easier," she mused as the camera cut out…

STATIC…

(.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.)

Fiaevi xli Wgevi Gvsri

(.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.)

STATIC…

"WAIT!" Duela cried out as the picture came back on. She then smirked at the camera. "Caesar shift four," with that she placed her hand over the lens and all went to black…

00


	6. Past and Present PT2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 5**_ : _**Past and Present Pt. 2**_ …

00

(Titans Tower…)

The Titans awoke to the sound of a blaring siren. Robin got up and hurried to OPS within moments of hearing it. Despite having only a short amount of sleep the teen was already very alert. His years of dedication and training had honed the young man into a near machine. He could go for quite a long time without a full nights sleep, thanks in no small part to a meditation technique he'd learned from his mentor, The Batman.

Raven was the next to awake, although far less alert than Robin she was better off than the others. She arrived in OPS to see the leader of the team working on the computer to isolate what was happening. As she waited she idly went to make a cup of herbal tea, if for no other reason then so she would be more alert. As she did Cyborg arrived, tired but better off than her since he really just needed his energy cell charged to be alert.

Starfire arrived next, she yawned and seemed more asleep than the rest of them but was better off than Beast Boy. Said green teen was still sleeping, and currently held in Starfire's arms. She briefly looked down at the teen and then dropped him to the floor. Beast Boy awoke with a start and then looked around warily. "Dude! What's going on!?" he demanded as he was suddenly alert.

Cyborg chuckled slightly while Robin frowned deeply.

"Trouble at the JCPD," the boy wonder replied. He then brought up the news feed on what was happening and widened his eyes. The news was reporting what was happening and focused in on a dark haired teen with a sword. He was slicing and cleaving through anyone in his path. The anyone in question unfortunately just so happened to be the night shift officers at the JCPD building.

The teen was cloaked but paused and seemed to stare at the camera, then raised his hand to his lips and breathed a massive fireball at the news crew… "Uh… well, this is new," Cyborg remarked with a frown. Usually their bad guys didn't attack the police, and they certainly didn't start to cut the place up without any rhyme or reason involved. This was more like something out of Gotham if he were honest…

"There's no time to lose," Robin stated through gritted teeth. "Titans move!" he snarled and stormed out of the room. The rest of the team didn't need to be told twice as they hurried after their leader…

00

(Earlier, JCPD…)

Uchiha Sasuke found it odd that attacking the police station was so ridiculously easy. The so-called law enforcement of this world was pathetic. He based this on the simple fact that they couldn't take on the average meta-human with the support of a 'hero'. Thusly the dark haired teen found them lacking and couldn't bring himself to care as he cut them down in an ever increasing swath of blood.

Screams and cries of pain echoed in the air as he marched forward stoically. Sasuke didn't fear for his life. He didn't care that he was killing innocent police officers or that they were doing their duty. He didn't care that he'd likely have those 'Titans' after him for this. He only cared that his presence here, when revealed, was also very likely to drag his former friend out of hiding.

So when he saw a light shining through a window he paused. He glanced to the side and saw a helicopter hovering outside of the building. He'd moved up the floors of the building and reached a level high enough for them to spot him. It was not by chance though; he'd predicted this would happen, based on what he'd seen in other towns. While Naruto had had a year to set up in Jump City, they had not been idle.

They had moved from city to city hunting him, yet they never turned up anything. They had been from Metropolis to Gotham, from Keystone to Central City, and beyond. They had looked all over the country for that troublesome blond, yet all they had to show for it was a cold trail. So they went back to where they had started, Jump City California. And after all this time, Sasuke could admit that his patience had worn very thin…

He saw the cameraman and he allowed the camera to capture his image. He was a distinct figure, even in this world, and if Naruto somehow didn't recognize him… well… He made several quick hand-signs and raised his hand to his mouth to blow a fireball out at the helicopter outside. They quickly rose up into the air to escape and Sasuke continued through the building. He did admit, if only to himself, he was getting a bit carried away.

With the video out and likely hundreds or thousands watching, Naruto would have to literally be under a rock not to notice. Or simply not pay attention to social media, which Sasuke had found to be next to impossible. It seemed like everyone was paying attention to whatever was happening nearby. If Naruto didn't notice, then someone near him probably had noticed and by proxy alerted him to the fact.

He paused his thoughts as several policemen started to fire at him from down the hall. He mutely raised his sword with one hand and began to twirl it. He used his Sharingan to catch each bullet with the flat of his blade. He continued to twirl his sword even after the men had stopped firing; the bullets were then lined onto the floor by his sword. The looks of shock and awe on the officers' faces were almost comical.

Sasuke let out a soft 'hnn' as he deflected the bullets with his sword and sent them flying back at the police. There were brief screams of pain as their impacted and Sasuke continued forward silently. Several of the policemen ran, he didn't blame them either. In his time on this strange world he'd come to realize how much weaker all the normal people were compared to them.

No Chakra meant no Jutsu, no strength, speed, or other physical enhancements…

Plainly put being a 'human' was tantamount to being a civilian, but even then they were somehow weaker than civilians. It was as if they were totally stripped of Chakra, which he had discovered was exactly what was going on. These people were, essentially, what the people before the Rikodou Sennin had brought them Ninshu had been… he wasn't impressed. He also found it disgusting how they still killed one another.

The major difference was that they killed one another in increasingly clever ways while also destroying their world. He admitted that a single Shinobi was worth a lot more of these people and their 'guns'. But they had other methods of killing each other and waging war. Sasuke could also see the similarities to Shinobi that these people had and it pained him to admit it, but there was one fact he could not escape.

Even if the Shinobi world lacked Chakra, they never would've found peace. Naruto and Sasuke had worked for the current peace, but he could tell from history that it wouldn't last. This world had similar situations; the peace that was built just didn't last. It was a humbling and infuriating fact that things would never truly change, and that absolute peace could never last.

Sasuke could bear that fact however, so long as war didn't return within his lifetime…

' _Once we get home, that's the first thing that needs to be assured,'_ Sasuke decided. He would go out and seek those malcontents that would try to start wars. He would defend the peace from the shadows, a blade in the dark so that none need be drawn in the day. It would be a lonely existence, sure, but it was one he could easily live with. So long as the peace they created lasted beyond his lifetime… that was all he cared about.

He paused his thoughts once more as he noticed a door. The door was to a room, which was slightly ajar, and as he walked over to it and looked inside, he noticed two people. One was a somewhat older man with graying brown hair and blue eyes in a standard officers uniform. The other however gave him pause. He was silent as he stared at the girl and drank in her features, and then mentally chuckled.

She was a very thin and wiry girl with grey skin, pink hair pulled into twin horns with black ribbons, and pink cat-like eyes with pink marking under them. She wore a choker collar around her neck with the word JINX on a blue tag, and was dressed in a black off the shoulder top with blue scalloped frill and a scalloped black skirt, blue / black striped stockings, and black go-go platform boots with blue soles.

Despite all the obvious differences he couldn't help but notice how much she resembled Haruno Sakura. Similar facial structure, musculature, and even height though her boots added a few inches. He wondered briefly if Naruto had noticed the similarities as he had before he sidestepped a shot from the other man's gun. He hummed softly as he raised his sword to shoulder the blunt side of the blade.

"Jill," the man muttered towards the girl. She glanced at him warily as he slowly stood up and trained his weapon onto Sasuke. "I want you to stay down," he ordered. She made to argue but he shot a look at her. "Don't argue, just stay back!" he ordered. He then turned back to Sasuke and took a deep breath. "That's a Chokatou, not really the best sword for indoor combat," he noted aloud.

Sasuke mutely arched a brow in question.

"Long straight blade, make's it hard to swing it in enclosed areas," the man explained. He slowly sidestepped while Sasuke kept his eyes trained on him. He ignored the pink haired girl; he didn't feel like making her a priority. Or perhaps he just found it funny how similar to Sakura she looked. "I'd say you'd have better luck if you were using a Kodachi, still straight bladed but a hell of a lot shorter," he explained.

Sasuke hummed in response.

"Don't talk much, do you?" Connors questioned. The cloaked teen smirked and hummed once more. "Right, one of those types then. You let your work speak for you I guess," the man continued. Sasuke mutely inclined his head to one side. As he did Jinx frowned and then brought up her thumb and middle finger. "So I got a question for you," the man admitted. Sasuke arched a brow once more. "Do you believe in bad luck?" he questioned.

Jinx snapped her fingers a second later. Pink energy spiraled beneath Sasuke's feet and the teen grunted as the floor gave way beneath him. Once he was gone Officer Connors gave a brief sigh of relief. Jinx hurried to her feet and ran to the man to make sure he was okay. He grunted and placed a hand to her shoulder to calm her down.

"I'm fine," he grunted then looked to the hole. "We better get out of here before he gets back up," the man stated. Jinx looked at him strangely.

"What makes you think he will?" Jinx questioned. Connors grunted in response.

"Because fucking ninja don't stay down for long," he muttered bitterly, as if he had a lot of experience on the matter. Before she could ask one of the multitudes of questions she had on that Connors grabbed her wrist and ran out of the room. A mere moment later Sasuke had leaped out of the chasm and returned to the floor. He let out a soft hum and stared after the two for a moment.

' _An earth jutsu?'_ he briefly considered then mentally shook his head. _'No, that was something… different,'_ he decided. He'd seen metahumans since his arrival on this world. But this was his first encounter with one. He often thought of them as those who had unique Kekkei-Genkai that weren't always family based. Aside from how varied and how vast the powers granted by them could be of course.

' _So what kind of powers does pinky have?'_ he wondered to himself. His curiosity got the better of him as he marched after the two. He was mostly done causing a ruckus anyways. If Naruto hadn't noticed him by now then he would have to reevaluate how much of a dobe the blond was and lower him a few pegs on his mental scales. Still he silently pursued the two, who noticed him as they briefly looked back.

He saw the older one mouth an 'of course' under his breath and smirked despite himself. He paused only as several more policemen started to fire at him from the side. Many would assume his sword was too long to be used in such small areas. They would be wrong. Sasuke's blade was forged to be unrelentingly sharp. As a result the blade could cut through the walls like they were butter.

He did so to great effect. He swung his blade and tore through the wood, concrete, and mortar that made the walls to slice through the policemen. He avoided the bullets they fired with unreal speed and cut the men down in an instant. He was also fast, that was a fact, but he was nowhere near as fast as Naruto at his peak speed. Naruto was, he knew from experience, insanely fast.

Then again, he didn't have to be as fast as the blond in order to get things done. He turned from his latest victims and resumed his pursuit of the other two. He honestly wondered about the girl's powers as she flicked a hand down the hall. From her hand a wave of pink energy flowed and impacted with the ground. It caused the ground to collapse and Sasuke arched a brow.

' _Rusted supports,'_ he noted to himself with a brief downward glance. He then leaped over the new chasm and continued his pursuit. He briefly pondered on the many things the girl could have power over. _'Rust maybe? Or even Oxidation in general? Perhaps some minor control of earth or wood? Hmmm,'_ he thought to himself as he continued on his pursuit of the two.

Soon he found them in the main entryway of the building and hummed as he approached them. The girl grunted in frustration, an expression that looked decidedly familiar in Sasuke's opinion. _'Does Sakura have otherworldly relatives we don't know about?'_ he wondered to himself with a slight smirk. It would certainly be amusing to find out that Sakura was some kind of alien…

Actually, that would explain a few things.

However he quickly returned his attention to the two as the girl flicked her hand at him. Another pink wave approached him but hit the wall behind him instead. It caused several lights to explode and his eyebrows to rise in surprise. _'Still don't know what her powers are based on, electricity maybe? No… no power lines in the floors that she collapsed earlier,'_ he thought to himself then turned to the girl curiously.

"Not much for stealth, are you?" the older man grunted. Sasuke hummed in response.

"It has its uses, but I don't have any use for it," he stated bluntly. The older man frowned in response and looked around. He then looked back at Sasuke and narrowed his eyes.

"You wanted to be seen, to be noticed and to be found," he realized, "you wanted this because you want to draw someone else out," he guessed. Sasuke smirked slightly, impressed by the bit of deduction on his part. "Judging by the smirk, I'd say I hit the nail on the head with that guess," he reasoned. Sasuke merely hummed as his only response. The older man idly put himself between Sasuke and Jinx, gun raised.

Sasuke could, internally, admire that the man wanted to protect her.

"So I'll take a wild guess that you honestly don't care whether we live or die," the man commented. Sasuke hummed and tilted his head to one side.

"I honestly couldn't care less," he admitted. The older man nodded his head and then glanced back to the rosette. She looked back to him worriedly then both turned back to Sasuke. Connors slipped a hand behind his back and then held the other forward and Sasuke raised a brow.

"So how 'bout I make another guess since my first two were so productive," Connors began, "judging by your weird ass eyes, I'd say you have some kind of visionary enhancements going on," he guessed. Sasuke mutely inclined his head. The old man was very observant, if nothing else, and Sasuke respected that. "Good to know," he stated with a nod of his head.

"So with eyes like that, I have to wonder," he began, "have you ever seen a flash bang?" he questioned. Sasuke blinked and muttered a 'nani' at about the same time there was a sudden 'click' sound from the older man. Connors then tossed a metal object into the air and Sasuke focused on it and swung his Chokatou, only to grunt in pain as it exploded into a flash of light. "Time to move!" Connors told Jinx as they escaped.

' _Stupid!'_ Sasuke told himself as he blinked his eyes open and close rapidly. Soon enough his vision cleared by the two had already made it out of the building. _'Well, if nothing else then the lack of Chakra has made them clever,'_ he noted to himself. He then marched out of the building and onto the barren city street. It seemed that somehow the few police not in their HQ had already managed to clear out most people from the nearby buildings.

The older man and the rosette turned to see him and the older man grunted. He quickly fished his gun from its holster and leveled it onto an unconcerned Sasuke. "Jill," he stated over his shoulder. "Run," he ordered. She looked at him incredulously.

"Are you crazy old timer!?" she demanded. _'Even her voice reminds me of Sakura… albeit a less annoying one,'_ Sasuke mused to himself. He actually found this 'Jill' girl's voice more soothing than Sakura's. The different pitch was probably why. Her's was less shrill than Sakura's could get.

"Don't argue, just go!" Connors ordered. Jinx looked at him unsurely for a moment and then grunted in frustration as she took off down the road. "Now as for you, there's no reason to go after her," the man stated. However Sasuke frowned in response.

"Honestly I was more curious about what her powers entailed than anything else," he admitted. The older man raised a brow then frowned deeply.

"Her powers are probability based, essentially meaning she can cause bad luck," the man replied. That caused Sasuke to blink and then look in the direction of the girl with an incredulous expression. _'That is genuinely terrifying,'_ he thought with a mental shudder. _'A teenage girl with the ability to affect probability itself,'_ he continued to shudder. He'd said it before and he'd think it again… this world was insane…

"So you got your answer, you'll leave her alone," Connors ordered. Sasuke hummed and turned back to the man with a frown. He did have his answer, but now he was curious about how much her powers could affect the world around her. Was it a limited area or was she only limited based on focus? Could she only cause bad-luck or could she also invert her powers to cause good luck?

The questions swirled in his mind as he narrowed his eyes on Connors.

"One question answered, sure," he replied then took a step forward, "But now I have like fifty more to ponder," he stated bluntly. He then flipped his sword up to lean it against his shoulder. "So now you're just in my way, and the girl isn't here so I don't have to worry about slicing her in half," he noted aloud. _'Crap,'_ Connors thought to himself as he took aim and the hooded young man with his gun.

"Thought you couldn't care less about me," Connors reminded.

"I did, then I realized you'd get annoying just to protect the girl," he stated bluntly. Connors grunted in response and took a mental inventory of what he had available to him. _'It's times like this I wish I had a portable rocket launcher,'_ he admitted to himself.

"So then, no more games, just cut your way through me to get to her?" he questioned.

"That's the plan," Sasuke stated and lunged forward. He swung his blade, but was mildly surprised when he saw the man manage to dodge to the side. _'Impressive,'_ he admitted to himself. He slowed and turned on his heel as the man fired at him, only to twirl his sword and bat the bullet away. Connors grunted to himself in response.

"I hate that damn trick," he muttered to himself. Sasuke hummed and swung his Chokatou at the man again. Connors rolled back to avoid him and then ducked to the side to evade him once more. Sasuke chuckled to himself as the older man soon got back to his feet in a low crouch.

"Congratulations, you're already head and shoulders above your comrades," Sasuke noted, "seeing as you actually know how to dodge," he stated mockingly. Connors grunted and then exhaled a breath. He took a stance across from Sasuke as the boy hummed lightly. His Sharingan blazed as he watched the man, then lunged forward, only to leap to the side as twin beams of heat came down from the air.

The dark haired young man then looked up to the roof of a nearby building to see a man in black with a skull shaped mask. "Great… another ninja," Connors grumbled to himself. Sasuke ignored him and glared at the man in black. He then reached to his left arm, which twitched slightly. _'My arm,'_ he noted and then smirked, _'there's only one person who makes my arm itch like this,'_ he thought to himself.

"Hello, old friend," he stated. The man in black merely raised his arms, a pair of blades shining in the dim light as they unfolded from his forearms…

00

(Earlier…)

Jinx hurried away from the police station with panting breathes. _'Damn it Jinx, you should go back to help the old man,'_ she thought. _'He told me to run!'_ she retorted. _'Since when do you listen to him?'_ her mind asked. She abruptly stopped and then blinked. _'Huh… I have a point,'_ she admitted to herself. However before she could turn around to go back, someone in black grabbed her up.

She let out a shriek as she was carried onto the roof of a nearby building then sat down. She blinked, then looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Red-X. "Oh thank god it's just you Tempest," she breathed, "I thought that sword wielding maniac had come to get me," she muttered to herself. Naruto blinked at the admission and then frowned deeply.

"Sword wielding maniac?" he questioned. Jinx nodded and then shook her head and hopped onto her feet.

"That's right!" she declared and grabbed the masked thief's shoulders, "Tempest I really need your help!" she stated. Naruto tilted his head to one side with his eyebrow raised. "Officer Connors is in real trouble, this guy with a sword busted up the police station and started chasing us, and Connors told me to run but now he's all alone with that nutcase and he's always been really good to me and," she rapidly explained.

Naruto rolled his eyes and placed a hand over her mouth to silence her. She glared at him heatedly for a moment then tried to remove his hand from her mouth. Which was easier said than done when he used Chakra to adhere his hand to her mouth. He let her try to remove his hand for a moment, and then watched her finally cross her arms.

"Firstly, I'll take my hand away after you calm down Jinx," Naruto stated. The rosette exhaled through her nose then nodded. He watched her calm and then slowly removed his hand from her mouth and crossed his arms. "Alright, so you want me to go save this 'Officer Connors' guy from some sword wielding maniac?" he questioned. Jinx nodded her head.

"He took care of me when I was little," she explained. Naruto paused and then nodded his head with a frown. "I was an orphan back in Detroit and the old guy kind of looked after me when he could," she explained with a sigh, "Never knew my real parents, mom is a con, my dad is dead, so he's the closest thing to family I have," she continued. Naruto was silent, though mentally compared 'Officer Connors' to being like Iruka…

"Fine," he said with a sigh, "I'll go save the old guy," he stated. He then grunted as Jinx hugged him and uttered multiple 'thank yous' to the blond. _'Oi, the things I do for pink haired girls,'_ he thought with a roll of his eyes. "As for you," he began and pried the girl's arms from around his neck, "You get to head back to my place and meet up with Gizmo and Mammoth, they've been worried sick," he stated.

"I have no earthly idea where you place is," Jinx remarked. Naruto just rolled his eyes and then whispered his apartment's location into her ear. "I can find that," she stated with a nod. With that she turned and ran off in the direction of his apartment. As she did Naruto rushed towards the JCPD building. _'Why do I have the feeling this is going to go,'_ he paused his thoughts when he saw a familiar teen in front of the JCPD…

' _No way,'_ he thought, _'I can't be this unlucky,'_ he continued. He then paused when he felt his right arm twitch. To his knowledge it only did that around one person. _'Well… fuck me that just figures, it would have to be Uchiha fucking Sasuke,'_ he thought and then quickly fired his thermal blasters at the other teen. Sasuke leaped out of the way and landed in a low crouch. He looked up at Naruto and then reached to his left arm.

"Hello, old friend," Sasuke stated with a visible smirk. Naruto grunted internally and then held up his arms. He unfolded a pair of blades from his forearms and then glared down at Sasuke heatedly. _'Of all the ninja it could be, it just had to be him… why not one of those Shadow fuckers, at least then I wouldn't have to take the fight seriously,'_ the blond mentally noted to himself.

Naruto could honestly say a lot about his former friend, he was short sighted, he was impatient, he was arrogant, and he was annoyingly stubborn. Sadly, Uchiha Sasuke was also one of the best at what he did. The unfortunate part was that what Sasuke typically did, wasn't very nice. He was a powerful bastard, and he didn't let things like 'morals' stand in the way of getting what he wanted.

"Not talking?" Sasuke questioned. He also noticed that he couldn't see any chakra coming off of the blond. _'So it's like the Chakra armor we encountered back in Yukie no kuni,'_ he noted to himself with a mental frown. That would be bad. That stuff had not only masked the chakra of the Shinobi, but it also increased their combat prowess. If Naruto had found some way to reinvent the stuff… well, he was unpredictable enough without it.

Naruto mutely glanced around the area as Sasuke examined him. One of the best parts about his mask was that it literally masked his facial expressions and eye movements. That was going to make it a real bitch for Sasuke to read him even with the Sharingan. Body language would still give him away, but only if Naruto let him read him… regardless he lowered his arms and chuckled lightly.

"Jeez Sasuke, that's the first thing you think to ask? No talking?" the blond remarked with a shake of his head, "Seriously not feeling the love man," he quipped playfully then let out a dramatic sigh, "but then again, what should I expect from you at this point?" the blond mused aloud. Sasuke scoffed then let off a 'hnn' and twirled his sword to lean the blunt side of the blade against his shoulder.

"I take it back, you're even more mouthy than you used to be," he stated with a frown. Naruto smirked to himself as he watched his once friend. "Well I guess its safe to say miracles don't happen," he murmured with a shake of his head. Naruto rolled his eyes then leaped up into the air. He came down in a roll and stopped in a crouch. He stood up and walked towards the cloaked teen who mirrored his actions.

Soon they came to a halt in front of one another.

"Your late," Sasuke stated. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Well isn't that just like you," he remarked with a shake of his head, "blaming me for being late to a party I didn't even know about," he commented then tossed his hand to the side, "least you could've done is sent me an invitation," he noted. Sasuke tilted his head.

"I suppose," he admitted, "though thankfully you decided to show up anyways," he continued and twirled his blade and held it at his side. Naruto scoffed as he and the dark haired teen slowly circled one another. Naruto idly glanced around, taking note of the darkened JCPD building and Officer Connors in particular. Said man let out a groan and muttered to himself about more ninja and being too old for this shit…

"Might want to clear out of here old timer," the blond commented, "I think things are about to get 'dicey' if you know what I mean," he noted. Connors grunted and got back to his feet with a frown.

"Don't need to tell me twice," he muttered then glared at the masked blond, "By the by, don't call me old-timer," the man growled. Naruto idly glanced back at the man as he pointed to himself with a thumb, "The name is Snake," he stated. With that he hurried off to the side while Naruto half smirked. _'Nice, finally a snake that I don't hate,'_ he noted to himself as he turned back to Sasuke.

Said dark haired teen watched 'Snake' hurry off then turned his gaze back to Naruto.

"Well, now that the peanut gallery has vacated," he mused and twirled his sword to point it at Naruto, "what say we get back to our little reunion," he commented. Naruto scoffed and then held his arms aloft at his sides.

"You call this a reunion?" he questioned humorously and then shook his head. "No food, no drinks, and the only babe already left," he noted with a nod in the direction Jinx had gone off too. Sasuke smirked slightly, eyes closed as he shook his head. While Naruto was mouthier than ever, it also seemed like he might've also picked up a few of his former sensei's bad habits.

"My sincerest apologies old friend," Sasuke stated with a half bow and then straightened back up to gaze at the blond intensely. "I suppose I was so excited to see you again, that I couldn't quite concentrate on preparations for the bash." Naruto rolled his eyes and narrowed his eyes on the other teen.

"Whatever," he noted with a shake of his head, "any rate," he murmured with a soft exhale of breath, "It's been more than a year since we last met," he remarked and then popped his neck. "So how 'bout we pick up where we left off," he suggested. Sasuke chuckled lightly and then threw his cloak to the side. He thus revealed the harness he wore as well as the sheath for his sword on his back.

Sasuke briefly glanced at his pale green arm as it twitched and then chuckled darkly.

"Sounds good to me," he remarked and then lunged at the blond with a swung of his sword. Naruto smirked and leaped back to avoid the swipe, and landed in a low crouch. As he did Sasuke twirled his sword then dug it into the ground and swiftly formed several hand seals and finished with a tora seal. " _ **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire-Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu!)**_ " the dark haired youth exclaimed as he breathed a fireball at the masked blond.

Naruto mutely lunged forward and dived into a slide under the fireball and then flipped up into a kick at Sasuke. The teen evaded his kick and gripped the hilt of his sword and swiftly swung with it and cut the blond in half… only for him to vanish in a plume of smoke. Sasuke frowned at that and then closed his eyes. "You and your clones," he murmured and glanced over his shoulder.

Naruto was reclined back on a nearby car's hood, one leg bobbing up and down as he watched at the other teen. He paused when he realized Sasuke had spotted him and offered a cheeky wave. Sasuke grunted in irritation and formed several more hand seals. His hand began to spark violently as he turned and pointed his hand at the blond. " _ **Chidori Eiso!(One Thousand Birds Sharp Spear!)**_ " the dark haired teen exclaimed.

A 'spear' of lightning surged from his hand towards the masked blond who shimmered in a static flash and vanished. The car however was impaled and exploded a few moments later, which knocked Sasuke back and off of his feet. He leaned back into a flip and pushed off of one hand to land in a crouch. A frown firmly planted on his face he looked around for the tricky blond.

"I don't remember you using this many diversions before dobe," Sasuke remarked darkly then narrowed his eyes at an amused chuckle.

"What can I say teme," the masked blond noted from behind him. Sasuke turned with a swing of his sword, only to grunt as another clone popped. "I've been picking up all kinds of new tricks since we last met," he admitted. Sasuke gave a quiet hum in response and then formed his hands into several seals. He admitted that the blond had gotten a lot better, if only to himself, but he hadn't been idle either…

His hand flashed with electricity as he then swiped his hand in a wide arc.

" _ **Chidori Senbon! (One Thousand Birds Senbon!)**_ " he exclaimed. As he did hundreds of needles of electricity were sent all over the street. Several Kage-Bunshin were caught while Naruto himself flipped and dodged out of their way. However Sasuke smirked at that and lunged at the blond with a swing of his Chokatou. _'Kuso,'_ Naruto thought as he blocked the blade with his wrist blades.

Naruto grit his teeth and dug his heels into the ground as he held Sasuke back. The other teen narrowed his eyes as he and the blond held one another back. "Nice to see you've improved dobe," he remarked candidly. Naruto snorted.

"What'd you expect?" he questioned and then pushed back on Sasuke's blade, causing the teen to take a step back. "That I'd quit my training entirely or something?" he demanded of the other teen. Sasuke hunned in response and then swiped his sword forward to push the blond back. He then twirled his blade and stabbed at the blond, only for him to vanish in a blur of speed.

He turned around to see the blond had reappeared on top of a light post and closed his eyes.

"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure what you'd do," he admitted. Naruto raised a brow in confusion. "You abandoned Konoha after all, never thought you'd do that in a million years," he remarked. Naruto scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

"I didn't abandon squat! I quit… retired… whatever the fuck you want to call it," the blond all but snarled. He was not in a good mood when he had to put up with the Uchiha. "I gave Sensei my fucking notice as well as my hittai-ate, and then I left, period, end of story," the blond stated firmly. Sasuke tilted his head to one side.

"Shinobi of our caliber don't just up and quit being Shinobi, dobe," the Uchiha remarked bluntly. Naruto snorted.

"I think I'd get to quit if I wanted too," Naruto stated with a flat expression.

"What makes you say that?" Sasuke questioned with a raised brow.

"Maybe 'cause I was still a genin!" he stated bluntly. Sasuke shook his head.

"I'll admit, that's true, but only because Kakashi-Sensei wanted to make your promotion more ceremonial," the dark haired teen noted. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Like I give a damn," the blond grunted. Sasuke hummed softly and then twirled his sword and leaned the blunt part against his shoulder.

"I suppose…" Sasuke mused and then narrowed his eyes, "and regardless, you knew I wouldn't just let you up and leave like that," the dark haired teen remarked with a smirk. Naruto shot a look at the other teen.

"This is about me doing the same thing to you isn't it?" the blond questioned bluntly. Sasuke merely offered an amused smirk in response. That was all the answer he needed. Naruto internally groaned and then wondered what he could've possibly done to deserve this? Had he been an evil overlord or even a psychotic maniac in some previous lives he wasn't aware of or what?

00

[Flashback]

It was a calm quite night in Hi no Kuni (land of fire). The trees of the vast forests swayed in a gentle breeze. The calm night air was quiet and the dark sky above brightened by the twinkling stars. The land was truly at peace for the first time in centuries, the last great Shinobi World War was over, and the many major hidden villages scattered across the land wished to try for a true lasting peace.

Yet all was not calm, nor was all quiet and peaceful.

From Konoha a shadow leaped over the wall and then moved through the forest from tree to tree. The first shadow was swiftly followed by several more. The first shadow glanced back, a familiar blond smirked as he leaped across the branches of several trees and then started to create numerous Kage Bunshin. His clones held back to distract his pursuers but were swiftly dispersed.

Yet the blond's smirk never left his lips. Instead he focused on hurrying away from them before he was suddenly grabbed from behind. He elbowed his assailant in the side to break his hold and then swiftly leaped up and away. The blond landed on a branch and was quickly surrounded by several more pursuers. He mutely smirked and raised his hand in a familiar seal…

" _ **Bunshin Daibakuha! (Clone Great Explosion!)**_ " he exclaimed and burst into an explosion that sent his pursuers flying all around. They soon got up to see no trace of the blond and swore as they scurried to locate him…

Meanwhile, in the forest of death a simple squirrel leapt from tree to tree. However when the explosion sounded in the distance the squirrel itself exploded in a cloud of smoke. Revealed is a familiar blond who landed in a crouch. He briefly paused and looked in the direction of the explosion. He frowned briefly and then shook his head and continued to make his way out of the village…

00

It had been some time since the end of the fourth Shinobi World War had finally ended and peace was established between the nations. Naruto had been more or less quiet as Tsunade finally ended her reign as Hokage. It had been a week since Tsunade stepped down and his once sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had been chosen to lead the village. Many might think that angered him… they would be wrong.

He honestly didn't care that Kakashi was Hokage, he was actually kind of happy for it as he had a personal request he wanted fulfilled. It was technically the same request. At first it'd been denied, Naruto chalked it up to Kakashi wanting to keep things stable as he entered the Hokage's office. Now it'd been a week and Naruto was sure that Kakashi could find it in him to grant him his simple little request…

Well, at least that's what he had thought…

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto glared at Kakashi heatedly. His arms were crossed and he was trying very hard not to start growling. He had come to Kakashi with what he felt was a simple request. However… "What do you mean denied?" he demanded. The silver haired Jounin sighed in exasperation and rubbed his face.

"Exactly that Naruto, your request for traveling rights is denied," he replied then looked up at him sharply, "Again," he noted with a shake of his head. Naruto twitched and a low growl started to echo from his throat.

"Care to tell me why?" he demanded then sucked in a breathe, "Cause last time I checked Ero-Sennin and Baa-Chan both got their traveling rights after a war, and given the one I just went through, I feel like I deserve at least that much," he stated firmly. Kakashi regarded the blond with a deadpan expression. If it were anyone else but Naruto they would be punished for their lack of respect…

"Because we're at a vulnerable position right now," the silver haired man replied. Naruto scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

"We're at peace, and we were in a worse position when Jiraiya and Tsunade left back after the previous war," he reminded the silver haired man bluntly. Kakashi blinked and then idly inclined his head. That was actually a really good point. Konoha had been in a pretty bad place after the last war. "Not to mention they were still allowed to travel even after the incident when 'Tobi' attacked," he added and Kakashi grunted.

He was trying desperately not to think about what his once friend had done. He'd spent so many years with an ideal of what Obito had been built up in his mind. Now it was hard to wrap his head around the kind of maniac he'd become. Regardless he shook his head and sighed. For the moment, Konoha was at peace; as like them the other neighboring villages were all still recovering form the war.

The loss of life had been tremendous, with casualties numbering in the thousands despite the best efforts of those in power…

"True," he admitted after a sigh then looked at the blond sharply, "but it doesn't hurt to be cautious," he reminded. Naruto threw his arms up in the air.

"Why? The other villages were hit just as hard as we were!" he reminded him hotly. Kakashi sighed and then pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did the blond have to be so stubborn? "Sensei c'mon, I just want to take some time to clear my head after all the stuff that's happened to me lately," the blond pleaded. Kakashi mutely glanced at him and shook his head again.

"I told you Naruto, denied," he stated and then picked through some papers on his desk. "We have a lot of damages we still need to fix and we need every available Shinobi to do their part so we can rebuild," the man stated. Naruto understood that, he really did, but he'd also been patient the passed week and felt he deserved time off to clear his head and try to feel like himself again…

Especially since he'd lost a Kami-damned arm and had to have a Zetsu arm grafted to him!

"Have we forgotten that Sasuke of all people got traveling rights," the blond remarked with a scowl, "Hell the teme got them despite the fact we should've at least put his ass on probation!" the blond remarked heatedly. Naruto hated to admit it, but after losing his arm to the teme, any camaraderie they'd had was gone… sure Sasuke lost an arm as well but it was the principle of the matter dammit!

"Sasuke is a… special case," Kakashi admitted with a grimace. Plainly put, Kakashi and even Tsunade felt it was best to keep Sasuke out of Konoha proper. Most of the civilians were more than a little wary of the Uchiha since the reveal of all that their clan had done. From the Kyuubi attack to the recent war, it did not put them in a good light, worse still given the number of things Sasuke had tried to do…

Regardless, they kept the boy around. Sasuke was more useful out in the field, people were scared of him and that could be used to quell any uprisings that might come about. Naruto was a bright star, he was something light, good, and wholesome, Sasuke… well… none of those words could be used for him. He was good at what he did, and what he did was kill anyone or anything that threatened their new peace.

"Besides, he does missions while he's out in the field," Kakashi admitted. Naruto twitched.

"And I can't?" he growled at the man. Kakashi sighed in response.

"Not the kind of missions we need you to do," he replied. Naruto scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

"Sensei I'm a gennin, I have no team, anyone I could be put with are literally fresh out of the academy, so I think it hardly matters in the long run," Naruto responded bluntly. Kakashi blinked at that and then inclined his head. That was true, Naruto was teamless but he was also a Sennin. Technically he should've been promoted ages ago but with the war and then the transition of him becoming Hokage afterwards things had gotten…

He shook his head of such thoughts and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Naruto," murmured quietly. There were of course other reasons why he wanted Naruto to stay and denied him traveling rights or even leave, but he had a feeling the blond would react worse to the denial if he admitted it was cause he was an ideal for the other shinobi and civilians to live up to. After all, how many orphaned kids without any real support could say they were literally stronger than their Kage?

However said blond didn't care and so glared at him. He was not going to back down just because his Sensei thought he was being unreasonable. Which he wasn't! Was he being selfish? Sure, but he felt he was deserved to be a little bit selfish after all the shit he'd had to put up with! He also admitted he had this burning anger at the back of his head that he needed to deal with sooner rather than later…

"No, don't you Naruto me! I fought harder than anyone for this peace so excuse me if I feel like I deserve a little time off! Dattebayo!" he all but snarled at the man. He'd also been working on his 'verbal tic' since the end of the war. He'd managed to get it to a point where it was only a problem when he was really angry or excited. It was certainly an accomplishment in his mind as it used to be much worse.

"Naruto listen, you don't understand what's," Kakashi tried to tell him. However the blond had had enough. He was angry and he honestly didn't care what excuses the man tried to feed him.

"No! Shut up and listen dammit!" Naruto snarled as he punched the man's desk. It shook and nearly buckled as the blond took several slow steady breaths. He then narrowed his eyes on the man. "I am done," he growled and then reached up and tore off his Hittai-Ate, "I'm tired Sensei, all I wanted was to get away for a while but no," he muttered and slammed the headband onto the desk.

"Be sure to give that back to Iruka," he stated and then turned his back to the silver haired man, "because I quit!" he snarled. Kakashi blinked in surprise and then got up.

"Naruto you can't just," he tried to say only for the blond to round on him.

"Actually I can! Genin have the right to quit being Shinobi at any time they chose so long as they don't know any village secrets and in the case of orphans like me they have paid off the village for their time at the academy in their term of service," he reminded the older man. Kakashi internally grimaced at that while Naruto grinned. "Remind me Sensei, what village secrets do I actually know?" he questioned.

Kakashi felt his eyebrow twitch at that, he couldn't even play the Kyuubi card since…

"Well?" Naruto demanded. Kakashi grunted in response.

"None," he admitted. Naruto nodded and then grinned.

"Also, have I completed enough missions to have paid off my debt to the academy?" he questioned with a tap of his chin. Kakashi felt his brow twitch and then grunted. Naruto had been on relatively few missions over the years, but most of them were high profile and high pay as a result…

"Yes," he admitted. Naruto nodded with a smirk.

"Right, so I have the right to quit if I want," he noted and turned on his heel.

"What about your dream?" Kakashi questioned quickly. It was literally the only thing he could think of to keep the blond from quitting. Naruto stiffened and then chuckled.

"I haven't really dreamed about being Hokage for a long time," he admitted and then stalked off. Kakashi groaned and fell back into his seat. He palmed his face and felt a sudden urge to get as smashed as Tsunade. _'Ugh… okay, this is bad,'_ he noted to himself, _'its only my first week as Hokage and Naruto's already quit,'_ he inwardly moaned to himself.

Naruto was one of the strongest Shinobi in the world, even without the added use of the Kyuubi's chakra. Senjutsu by itself was rare enough on its own, but on top of that the blond also had the use of the Rikoudo Senjutsu. It was a power that put him literally on a tier few could match, well save perhaps for Sasuke. As such losing him was a blow to their village they might not recover from…

That in mind he got up and hurried to find some people to talk sense into his wayward student…

00

Naruto sat in a clearing in the Forest of Death. He had his eyes closed while several of his Kage-Bunshin made a show of leaving over the front gate. He knew there would be several people following them by now. Kakashi wouldn't just let him go even if the times were peaceful. He just didn't really care. He was angry and felt like he deserved to be just a little bit selfish for once in his life.

He suddenly opened his eyes and glanced to his side. There next to him was a scroll with most of his worldly possessions sealed inside, which he was of course planning to bring with him. While he hadn't originally planned for such a… long-term leave of absence, he had found it all too easy to seal everything he wanted to bring. It didn't hurt that he hadn't really had much of a chance to rest since the end of his training trip.

Which was part of why he'd all but demanded time off, then up and quit…

Naruto knew he'd been rash, he knew he'd been selfish, and he knew he'd been short sighted. But damn it, he felt entitled to a little bit of time to himself! He had gone through a war, met his dead parents, faced their killer, lost an arm, lost his godfather; lost friends… he just really needed some time to clear out his head! It wasn't even like he'd wanted to quit at first; it was just the only way he'd be able to be by himself…

He shook his head of such thoughts before he lost his nerve. He still had one more thing he needed to do before he actually left. It was something that would be hard, but it was necessary if he wanted to leave Konoha permanently. He formed several hand seals and then placed his hand onto the ground. Kanji spread from his hand outwards into a seal array on the ground.

" _ **Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique!)**_ " he stated firmly and a plume of smoke formed. From the smoke appeared two tiny old toads in old cloaks. One of the toads was male with an old wooden staff, while the other toad was female. They both stared at the blond in surprise.

"Naru-Chan?" the female, Ma, questioned. Naruto sighed in response and closed his eyes.

"Yeah its me," the blond replied as he ran a hand through his spikey blond hair.

"Did something happen?" the male, Pa, questioned. Naruto grunted in response.

"I wanted time off," he admitted. Ma and Pa blinked and then nodded. That made a lot of sense; the blond had been through a lot over the passed year. If they had been younger they could imagine wanting time to themselves as well. "Sensei denied it," the blond admitted with a frown. Ma and Pa both frowned in response.

"Why would he do that? I thought your people were finally in peaceful times," Ma remarked with a frown. Pa nodded his head in agreement and Naruto shrugged.

"He probably has his reasons…" Naruto admitted then sighed, "but I feel like I deserve to be a little selfish for once, so I quit," he stated firmly. Ma and Pa glanced at one another and then to the blond.

"So why did you call us out?" they questioned. Naruto grimaced and then closed his eyes.

"As angry as I am, I don't want to take the toads from Konoha," he admitted, "Ero-Sannin was a letch but he was loyal letch. I'm angry and I feel like I need some time to be angry for a while before it just burns at the back of my skull…" he admitted and then chuckled. "Or turns into another Yami," he remarked with a soft smile. Pa frowned as he realized what the blond wanted.

"So you want to leave us with Konoha," he noted and Naruto nodded his head. "But what did you need to tell us for?" he questioned. Naruto winced and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I… well, look you know if you guys get a new summoner," he tried to explain. Ma huffed and puffed up her cheeks.

"Your worried a new summoner will bring you back with a reverse kuchiyose," she stated bluntly. Naruto winced and then nodded his head. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! We'd respect your wishes Naru-chan! We'd even let you stay with us at Mount Myoboku if you asked." she declared with a nod. "You could even try some of my fly soup," she remarked. Naruto grimaced while Pa hummed and stroked his beard.

"It's more than just that though," he remarked to himself. Ma glanced at Pa curiously as he nodded his head, "Naru-Chan wants a clean break and he also doesn't want us to be questioned. He wants to go and be by himself, but he doesn't want to make any trouble for us. So he wants to remove himself as our summoner and disappear for a while," the old man remarked. Ma scoffed.

"It's no trouble to help Naru-Chan," she stated pointedly. Pa twitched.

"But Naru-chan is being noble, he's sacrificing our aide so he can give us a little peace. We won't know where he is, we won't be able to call him back, so no one will bother us or storm Mount Myoboku looking for him," the old toad explained. Naruto idly nodded his head while Ma crossed her arms.

"That sounds like he's just being stupid to me," she pointed out bluntly. Naruto face faulted while Pa glared at her with a snarl.

"Dammit woman! A man has the right to be stupid sometimes!" the old toad declared. Naruto rolled his eyes with a fond smile as the two started to argue. As they did he glanced to the distance with a frown and turned back to the two old toads.

"Ma! Pa!" he stated sharply. The toads stopped arguing and looked to the blond. "I… look you two have been really good to me," he stated as he knelt down and hugged the two toads. "That's why I don't want to make trouble for you, just cause I'm stupid and selfish doesn't mean I want you guys to get hurt for my sake," he murmured and then stood up and wiped at his eyes.

"So please let me do this, if for no other reason then for my own peace of mind," he pleaded. Pa had teary eyes while Ma scoffed.

"Of course!" Pa declared with a nod.

"Stupid Naru-Chan," Ma mumbled and sniffed. With that Pa and Ma pulled out the toad-summoning scroll. Pa paused and looked up at Naruto pensively.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" he questioned. Naruto nodded his head resolutely.

"Yeah, I might miss you guys, but I'll happily bare with the exile so long as you and the other toads stay safe," he replied. Pa nodded while Ma started to sniffle and mutter to herself about stupid blonds. A moment later Pa wiped a flipper along the blond's name on the scroll. It turned jet black and then started to fade as he rolled the scroll up.

"There… it's done, Naru-Chan," Pa stated as he dismissed the scroll. Naruto briefly looked down at himself and nodded his head. "So where will you go now, Naru-Chan?" the old toad questioned. Naruto paused and then pulled a scroll from his back pocket with a smirk.

"I've heard some stories about a 'Spirit-Realm' and thought it'd be nice to visit," he admitted. Ma and Pa glanced at one another then back to the blond.

"Be careful with that jutsu Naru-chan," Ma stated. Pa hummed in agreement.

"That Jutsu is finicky as all get out," he noted with a shake of his head, "One slip up and boom, your somewhere completely random with no real way to get back," he remarked. Naruto glanced at the scroll warily for a moment then shook his head. He slipped it back into his back pocket and then knelt down between the two toads.

"Thanks for understanding Pa," he whispered then turned to Ma, "and Ma, I'll be sure to be careful so you don't have to worry," he told her. He then stood up and swiftly leaped into the Forest of Death. He changed into a squirrel along the way and vanished into the distance. As he did Ma and Pa watched, before the old lady toad turned to her husband.

"He's an idiot," she noted. Pa laughed heartily.

"Oh definitely," he admitted, then smiled, "but at least he's our idiot," he remarked fondly. Ma smiled as well and both vanished in a plume of smoke. All that was left behind was a certain scroll with the kanji for toad…

00

Naruto shook his head of his memories and landed on a tree in the forest of death. He took a moment to get his bearings and then leapt for the next branch. _'Now if my memory serves then it should be right over,'_ he began and then grinned as he landed in the Valley of the End. _'So many memories,'_ he noted to himself as he marched into the valley. He paused for a moment when his right arm started to spasm.

' _What?'_ he wondered as he held up his hand. _'But that only happens when,'_ he paused his thoughts and narrowed his eyes. He then turned around to see a familiar face leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest. The pale skinned, dark haired teen was his once friend, though their meetings had been somewhat… icy… since their last altercation where each of them had lost an arm.

The funny part was Naruto was the one being icy for once, not Sasuke who seemed more or less neutral to the blond.

"Sasuke," he whispered. The said teen opened an eye to glance at him then hummed.

"I knew you'd come here," he remarked. "The same place I left from, it'd be almost poetic for you to leave this way," he mused and then fixed his gaze onto the blond, "Which honestly isn't like you but appropriate all the same," he noted. He then stepped forward and approached the blond silently. Naruto frowned and then crossed his arms.

"So I guess this is the part where we go at each others throats," the blond noted with a look. Sasuke hummed in response and inclined his head. His sword was still in its sheath but Naruto was keeping his eyes trained on that blade. It wasn't like Sasuke's original sword, which he'd lost to Kaguya's realm, but it was still sharp as sin. He then noticed the teen wasn't attacking and scoffed to the side.

"Oh, so it's the part where I start to blather on about why I'm leaving then?" he remarked. Sasuke mutely inclined his head as his answer. Naruto threw his arms into the air and sighed with a shake of his head. "Jeez, can't you be the least bit enthused about anything teme?!" he demanded. Sasuke merely hummed as his response. Naruto grunted in irritation, he then sucked in a breath and exhaled through his nose.

"Fine," he growled, "I'm leaving cause this is bullshit!" he snarled. Sasuke arched a brow in response. "All I really wanted was time to clear my head," he stated and started to pace, "maybe explore the nations, learn some new techniques or something, but nooo," he remarked with a scowl. "I don't care what bullshit reason Sensei has to keep me here, I deserve a break dammit!" he exclaimed with his arms thrown into the air.

"I've been through a fucking war, fought then spared the same man who killed my parents when I was a baby, I got to meet my dead parents, lost my godfather, lost my father again, lost a good friend, and to top it all off I even lost my kami damned arm!" he snarled as he raised his right limb. The limb in question was swathed in bandages, but Sasuke knew exactly what it looked like as he glanced at his left limb.

"We both lost an arm, dobe," Sasuke remarked. Naruto scoffed.

"Yeah, cause you were being a jackass!" the blond reminded. Sasuke scoffed.

"We had differing opinions at the time, we fought, I lost, get over it," Sasuke stated bluntly. Naruto grunted and narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching at his sides reflexively.

"First of all, I liked that arm dammit!" the blond snarled at his once friend, "Second, fuck you teme!" he snarled at the other teen. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Just get over it dobe," he replied. Naruto palmed his face and growled low in his throat.

"Why do you always have to be such an ass?" he demanded of his once friend, "my point is after all that, all I asked in return was a little freedom to explore and time to myself so I could get my damn head back together and feel like myself again," he stated. Sasuke mutely closed his eyes and popped his neck. While he understood the point the blond was trying to make, he honestly didn't care.

Yes, Naruto deserved some time to himself, but that didn't mean he'd be complacent…

"Now I think is the time we go at each others throats," the dark haired teen remarked as he reached back for his sword. Naruto grunted in response and bit his thumb, then swiped his thumb over a paper bracelet on his wrist. The bracelet exploded into a cloud of smoke and the blond grabbed a wakizashi out of the smoke. Sasuke arched a brow as the blond unsheathed the wakizashi and stuck the sheath into the loop of his belt.

"Copying me are we," the dark haired teen commented. Naruto scoffed and flipped the wakizashi into a reverse handed grip.

"Fuck you," Naruto stated bluntly, "you don't have a monopoly on swords teme," he commented. Sasuke 'hnned' and then launched himself at the blond. Naruto swiftly blocked an overhead swing with his wakizashi and gritted his teeth as they were both propelled back and across the valley's lake. Naruto instantly used water walking to keep himself aloft, as did Sasuke as they came to a halt at the center of the lake.

Naruto took a breath then shoved up with his wakizashi to knock Sasuke off balance. He then threw a punch at the dark haired teen, which slammed into his face and caused him to stumble back. The teen blinked his eyes open and closed for a moment while the blond chuckled darkly. Sasuke mutely frowned and then twirled his sword at his side and then lashed out with several rapid swipes at the blond.

Naruto dodged or blocked each of the swipes and then launched a punch at Sasuke's face, however the dark haired teen avoided it and flipped his sword into a backhanded grip to slam the hilt into Naruto's sternum. The blond was sent skidding back by the blow and grimaced as he watched Sasuke run at him. He then ducked back while canceling the chakra to his feet to avoid a swing and formed a T shaped hand seal while underwater.

" _ **Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!)**_ " the blond snarled as literally hundreds of clones surged out of the water at Sasuke. _'Challenge accepted,'_ the dark haired teen thought with a smirk. Several of the clones came at him swinging their swords. However the dark haired teen maneuvered around them and cut them down with little effort.

While Naruto's weapon was good for blocking, Sasuke had the advantage in range. His Chokatou was long enough that he didn't have to get in range of the clones attacks. Still, it never hurt to be cautious. He threw his sword high into the air then rapidly formed hand seals before he ended on tora. " _ **Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique!)**_ " he called out as he spat dozens of flames out at the clones.

Dozens of the clones were dispersed by the balls of fire but those that remained lunged at the dark haired teen with a determined zeal. Sasuke mutely arched a brow then lifted his hand and closed his eyes. " _ **Chidori Nagashi! (One Thousand Birds Current!)**_ " he stated as electricity surged out from his body and caught several of the remaining Shadow Clones. The teen then lifted his hand up to catch the hilt of his Chokatou with a chuckle.

He then started to swing his blade in wide arcs as he did away with the clones. Once he was finished he noticed that there were only a few clones remaining and twirled his sword at his side. "Now then dobe, show me some real fun," the teen bade with a 'c'mon' gesture. The clones growled darkly as one lunged at him while three others stayed back. The first clone ducked under a swing from Sasuke's sword and then flipped up behind him.

He swung his sword at Sasuke from behind but the dark haired teen dropped down and turned to sweep the clones legs out from under it and swing his Chokatou through him in a single motion. He paused and turned as Naruto came at him from behind with a pair of Rasengan in his hands. " _ **Tsuin Rasengan! (Twin Spiraling Spheres!)**_ " the blond snarled as he shoved the balls of chakra at Sasuke.

The dark haired teen quickly blocked with his sword and gritted his teeth as he was sent skidding back across the surface of the lake. Ultimately he concentrated his chakra to his sword and narrowed his eyes. " _ **Chidorigatana! (One Thousand Birds Katana!)**_ " he snarled as his now sparking sword sliced through the Rasengan. He then took a knee to catch his breath and looked up as Naruto and his clones came down at him from above.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as they came down on him, only to smirk as he vanished in a plume of smoke. All three Naruto's blinked at that before one of them gaped. "Hey Teme! That's my thing!" the Naruto snarled at no one. However his clones were then sliced and dispersed before he was grabbed and tossed into the cliff face by the dark haired teen. Sasuke cracked his neck and approached the downed blond with a frown.

"Seems like I win," he remarked then scowled, "Except that you aren't the real Naruto," he stated bluntly. 'Naruto' chuckled in response and grinned at the teen.

"What gave it away?" he questioned. Sasuke hummed in response and then pointed the tip of his Chokatou at the blond.

"As stupid as I often say Naruto is, he's strong enough that I at least respect him for his ability to fight," the dark haired teen noted. He then scoffed as he lifted his sword the lean the blunt side against his shoulder. "That said, the dobe would've already used Senjutsu or at the very least Kyuubi to put me down by now," he responded bluntly. The clone closed his eyes and shook his head as he used the cliff to rise to his feet.

"You really don't know the boss that well then do you," he remarked. Sasuke frowned.

"So you have any last words?" he questioned. The clone smirked in response.

"Yeah actually, five of 'em, from the boss," he responded then held his hand up in a familiar hand seal, "Catch me if you can!" he stated then started to glow. " _ **Bunshin Daibakuha!**_ " the clone exclaimed and Sasuke cursed and leaped back as it detonated. The dark haired teen grunted as the explosion threw him across the lake. He turned in midair to land on his feet and scowled darkly.

"He is going to get so much mileage out of that damn Jutsu isn't he?" the dark haired teen muttered to himself. Though given how Naruto liked to Spam Kage Bunshin on a normal day, giving him the jutsu that let them explode seemed like a match made in heaven… or hell depending on who you asked. Regardless Sasuke shook his head and then narrowed his eyes, his Rinne-Sharingan flared and he hurried to find the blond and finish things…

Though what he didn't know, was that his pursuit of the blond would lead him and his entire team to a whole new world…

[End Flashback]

00

(Present…)

' _Ahh, where does the time go,'_ Naruto internally remarked as he dodged a swipe of Sasuke's Chokatou. _'It's been more than year since then,'_ he continued as he blocked Sasuke's sword with his wrist blades. _'And we're still at each others throats,'_ he noted with an amused chuckle. He then head butted Sasuke in the face and then kicked the dark haired teen back and across the street. Sasuke skidded a few paces and then flipped to his feet.

"You know, dobe, I'd think you'd have expected me to come after you," he began and twirled his sword, "I mean you leaving isn't all that different from what I did after all," he remarked. However Naruto scoffed and shook his head.

"Actually there's a pretty big difference," he stated with a nod. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and lunged at the blond, he swung his Chokatou wildly yet the blond effortlessly evaded them with unmatched speed. _'Makes me long for the days when I was the faster one,'_ the dark haired teen admitted to himself. He then twisted into a kick, which Naruto ducked to avoid. He then vanished in a static flash as Sasuke stabbed his Chokatou down.

Naruto appeared in another static flash and started to rapidly swing his wrist blades at the dark haired teen. Sasuke grit his teeth and slowly backed up while he blocked each blade with his Chokatou. He felt his anger start to rise and his Sharingan swirl but calmed down and focused. He couldn't use Amaterasu against the blond; he needed Naruto alive if he wanted to get home.

"So what's the difference then?" he questioned plainly. Naruto chuckled in response as he ducked under a swing from Sasuke's sword. He then blocked another swing and leaped into a kick. Sasuke ducked under it and rolled to the side while Naruto breathed out a soft sigh.

"It's simple Teme," he began and collapsed his wrist blades, "I'm selfish, sure I'll own up to that," he stated with a nod. He then ducked down and rushed at Sasuke, his fists began to spark has he lasted out with several quick punches at the dark haired teen. Sasuke evaded them and then flipped back a pace and lunged forward with a swing of his sword. Naruto slammed his hands together to catch the blade between his hands.

"And?" he questioned tersely. Naruto chuckled.

"Well, as for you… lets face facts," he began and narrowed his eyes, "you're fucking psychotic," he stated bluntly. Sasuke scoffed and then swung his sword at the blond, but Naruto vanished and reappeared across from him. Sasuke grunted and clenched his fists at his sides. Would it kill the blond to hold still for one damn second? However both he and Naruto turned when they heard the screech of nearby tires.

' _Nani?'_ Sasuke wondered with a raised brow.

' _Oh no, not now,'_ Naruto internally moaned and palmed his face. He then flipped out of the way of several bird-a-rangs from the titan's leader. Sasuke mutely sliced through the weapons with a frown on his face, eyes narrowed as saw the Titans.

"Titans Go!" said leader of the titans exclaimed as he leaped from his motorcycle. _'Kami damn it kids! This is so not the place for you right now,'_ Naruto thought grimly. He played with the Titans when they last fought, Sasuke wouldn't. Sasuke would take them apart piece by bloody piece if they somehow managed to annoy him. He shook his head of such thoughts, as Robin seemed to focus on Sasuke instead of him.

' _He is probably the bigger threat, at least in his mind, with the sword and all,'_ Naruto admitted to himself. Though had he known that Sasuke had basically posed for a camera to lure him out it might've made more sense to him. Regardless Robin launched himself at Sasuke with his bo-staff. He twirled it in the air and slammed it down, only for the Uchiha to catch it with his sword and hold it back with one arm.

"Interesting," Sasuke murmured. Robin narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?" he demanded as he pulled his bo-staff back and swung it at the side of the teen. Sasuke mutely turned his arm and sword to block the staff hnned softly. "Why did you attack the police?" he further demanded. Sasuke arched a brow, then swung his sword and tried to take Robin's head off. However the boy wonder's reflexes were good enough that he flipped back and out of the way.

"Impressive," he remarked with a smirk. Robin growled and then launched a swipe at his head but Sasuke effortlessly evaded. His Sharingan spun as he read the other teens moves before he could make them. Robin became increasingly agitated, openly growling as he tried, and failed, to land a hit on the dark haired teen. Eventually Sasuke caught his bo-staff in one hand and lifted Robin into the air with sheer strength.

"Your good, but lacking something," he noted in a clam icy cold tone. It sent a shiver of familiarity shooting down Robin's spine. _'He talks like Slade,'_ he thought briefly. He then gave a cry as Sasuke flung him to the side with his bo-staff. He dark haired teen then tossed the staff away only for Naruto to slam a fist into the side of Sasuke's face. The dark haired sword wielding teen was sent flying by the force of the blow.

Naruto scowled darkly as he watched Sasuke stumble back to his feet while Cyborg went at him from the side. _'Well Stone-Head has the physical durability to survive,'_ the blond admitted to himself. Sasuke's sword was sharp, sharp enough to cut through steel when used with a Chidori. However, Cyborg's body was made of Titanium, a metal so hard even Sasuke wouldn't be able to pierce it…

' _But his head is half unprotected,'_ Naruto thought grimly and surged to the side. As he did Robin got up and watched Naruto move with unreal speed. His eyes widened as he made the only connection possible. Not only did Red-X have an advanced variant of his old suit… he was apparently a Speedster on top of that.

' _Oh that is so not good,'_ he remarked with a grimace. A normal non-evil speedster could be annoying if not outright infuriating to deal with. That was when you liked the speedster in question. However, take that and turn it into a villain who liked to mock and belittle you for seemingly random reasons? Yeah… he suddenly made calling Donna and Wally a priority, they really needed their help.

With Sasuke the dark haired teen got back to his feet and then turned and swung his sword at the person who came at him from the side. However much as Naruto believed the Titanium teen smirked as his arm blocked the blade. "At fancy knife ain't worth much if it can't cut me," he noted plainly. Sasuke mutely raised a brow and then smirked.

"Then lets see if this does," he remarked with a single hand seal, " **Chidori Nagashi,** " he intoned and was surrounded by electricity, which surged outwards and suddenly coursed through Cyborg's body. The teen shuddered and spasmed wildly and then fell over backward. "Seems like it does," he remarked with a sniff then grunted as Naruto kicked him away and then glanced at Cyborg with a frown.

"Dammit Stone-Head I told you to get a better surge protector!" the masked blond grumbled and then palmed his face when he saw Beast Boy, as a rhino, running at Sasuke head on. _'Oh dear Kami-Sama… if this night keeps up like this I'll be protecting the kids more than I'm fighting Sasuke,'_ he remarked to himself. He then shook his head and started to mutter under his breath about stupid kids getting in the way.

As he did Sasuke got up with an annoyed grunt and then looked at Beast Boy. His eyes narrowed and his Sharingan began to spin wildly. As it did he caught Beast Boy's line of sight and the green rhino blinked, before he suddenly transformed back into a human and skidded to a halt. He looked at Sasuke with wide eyes as the dark haired teen twirled his sword at his side.

"D-Dude! How'd you do that?!" he demanded only to knocked out of the way by Naruto as Sasuke tried to slice him in half. Naruto grunted and turned to Sasuke while Beast Boy looked at the masked thief in surprise. Naruto however ignored him and then mentally started to curse up a storm. _'Fucking fuckity fuck fuck fuck! Why did the kids have to show up now? Kami dammit, I can't go all out with them here,'_ he thought with a frown.

' _Or in the city,'_ he noted to himself. If he and Sasuke fought one another they'd need a wide-open area or they would cause untold property damage. Naruto knew that from his passed fights with Sasuke at the valley of the end and other such places. His jutsu were far more destructive than Sasuke's jutsu, which typically focused on brutal efficiency rather than destructive power although he did have some seriously overpowered Jutsu.

He paused his thoughts as Robin managed to get back to his feet and lunged at Sasuke from behind. _'Oh c'mon,'_ he complained and then hurried to the Kid's aide. As he did Robin lunged at Sasuke from behind but the other teen silently sidestepped him and then swung his sword. Naruto appeared and caught the blade with his crossed forearms and gritted his teeth.

"You… saved me?" Robin questioned in surprise. Naruto gave a grunt and then chuckled.

"Lighten up chuckles," he commented and then shoved Sasuke back, "I'm not such a bad guy, once you get to know me," he noted then looked up as several green bursts of energy started to pelt Sasuke. _'Nice effort but it won't really help you here, cutie,'_ Naruto noted grimly as Sasuke flipped back to avoid the Starbolts, but as he did a black shadow in the shape of a raven rose up behind him.

Sasuke turned as it did and then raised a hand with a frown. " _ **Amaterasu!**_ " he hissed as a surge of black fire roared to life. The 'raven' behind him immediately moved out o the way of the burst of black fire and instead returned to Raven herself. Who shuddered and fell to her knees. _'So cold,'_ she thought with another shudder. _'His emotions… so dark and cold,'_ she noted to herself with another chill.

As she sat there Sasuke stalked towards her, his Sharingan spinning rapidly. The dark haired teen paused his forward march when a shadow passed over him. He looked up to see a car flying towards him and narrowed his eyes. He then raised his now sparking sword and swung it forward. " _ **Chidorigatana!**_ " he snarled as he sliced the car clearly in half, the two halves flying behind him to explode.

As he did Naruto couldn't help but grimace in worry. _'Fuck Sasuke's starting to bust out the big guns on the kids,'_ Naruto noted worriedly. While it was true that the Titans posed next to no true threat to Sasuke, they could clearly annoy him. The problem was that unlike him, Sasuke didn't like to be annoyed. Naruto paused his thoughts as Robin roughly pulled him around to face him.

"Who is that?" Robin demanded. Naruto scowled in response.

"My problem kid, so stay out of it," he replied bluntly. However Robin scoffed.

"Not when he's attacking my city!" the boy wonder replied. Naruto growled low in his throat.

"This is seriously not the time for this, Kid!" Naruto snarled at the teen. He then slammed his fists together, causing them to spark wildly. Robin took a step back as he watched the sparks arc off of his arms. As he did he focused his mind and concentrated on his 'inner gates'. He'd learned the basics of opening them when he'd trained in Go-Ken with Lee and Gai, unfortunately unlike them he couldn't open a significant number…

Two was his limit at the moment, but he didn't need any more than that…

He'd already released the ' _ **Kaimon (Gate of Opening)**_ ' as it increased his strength and speed outright. While he could use Tsunade's strength enhancing jutsu, he admitted he didn't have the precise control needed to get the most out of the technique. The gates however, those were much more straightforward. Sure someone like Lee or Gai got more out of the gates, but he didn't need much.

Even so, right now felt like a good time to test out his limits with them opened…

' _ **Kyumon! (Gate of Healing!)**_ _'_ he thought as his body was suddenly energized. He then grunted as his suit blared several warnings about an overload, which he ignored. His body seemed to tense as energy surged threw his limbs and he dropped into a runner's stance. He then shot off like a dart towards Sasuke; his speed was so great that Robin was forced to take cover, as the asphalt seemed to explode behind him.

He didn't pay it any mind as he moved like a lightning bolt at Sasuke and then slammed a fist into his chin. The force of the blow knocked Sasuke off of his feet and into the air. Naruto then turned and drop kicked Sasuke back down into the asphalt before he just as quickly kicked him back up into a spin. Naruto then crouched low and slammed a punch into Sasuke's face that sent him flying up into the air.

The blond then crouched down and shot up the side of a nearby building. The concrete seemed to explode beneath his feet as he ran up the side of it and then leaped off towards Sasuke. He formed a familiar swirling ball of energy into his hand as he approached Sasuke. " _ **Rasengan!**_ " he snarled and slammed the ball into Sasuke's gut. The two then careened into the JCPD building through the roof…

Watching on with wide eyes Raven blinked as the entire thing took only a few moments to happen. She then glanced to see Starfire still beside her. "Starfire," she began and the alien powerhouse looked to her, "Was he also that fast in the future?" she asked lowly. Starfire mutely nodded her head in response and the dark bird internally groaned. _'Yeah… he really held back a lot when he fought us,'_ she noted to herself.

She also looked at Robin as he gaped at the place where Naruto and Sasuke once were. _'He's really going to hate it when he finds out just how much he's been holding back against us,'_ the girl noted to herself with a grimace. Robin obsessed enough over Slade in the past, now it seemed like he had a new obsession. Only this time it was someone he probably couldn't match in a fair fight…

A moment later the top floor of the building burst into flame. Robin's eyes bolted open and he turned to his team. "Beast Boy, stay with Cyborg! When he wakes up I want you two to get inside and help anyone you can find inside!" he ordered swiftly then turned to Starfire and Raven. "Raven, you and Star follow me," he ordered and pulled out a grapple from his utility belt.

"What's our objective?" Raven questioned. Robin paused and a grimace crossed his lips.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to say this," he admitted with obvious distaste, "But we're going to help Red-X," he replied with a grimace. With that he fired his grapple at the roof and shot off. Raven and Star glanced at one another for a moment only then followed him to the roof. However almost as soon as they arrived they could hear the violent struggle happening below them.

Robin hurried to the hole in the roof only to pause and raise a hand as flames roared out of it. Raven formed a black disk to hold the fire back and the boy wonder looked to her gratefully. However then they heard a great cry of 'Bunshin Daibakuha' before the roof exploded outwards. Raven swiftly formed a shield around herself and her friends as the fire roared outwards and took a large chunk of the roof with it.

The three Titans then looked up as a body was flung from the building, set ablaze and sent hurling towards a distant alley. Robin swiftly looked to a wide-eyed Starfire. "Star, go find whoever that was," he ordered. Be it Red-X or the other guy he didn't care, he wanted some answers tonight dammit! The alien powerhouse nodded without question and shot towards the flaming figure while Robin then looked to Raven.

"So?" she questioned warily. Robin narrowed his eyes.

"Look for any survivors and get them out!" he ordered swiftly. Raven didn't have to be told twice as she vanished in a black flash of power. As she did Robin leaped into the remains of the JCPD and hurried to find anyone he could. As he did he noticed the signs of battle, only to pause when he saw dozens of blood trails. He followed them for a moment, but found no signs of X or the sword wielder anywhere…

00

(Earlier…)

Naruto grunted as he and Sasuke impacted with the roof. But they then continued further as his Rasengan slammed them through the roof and into a room. Naruto rolled off of the other teen with a cough and brought a hand to his head. He chuckled lightly to himself even as warnings on his suit continued to blare in his ears and in front of his eyes. _'I know already,'_ he thought as he smacked the side of his helmet.

The noises stopped briefly but the momentary distraction was all Sasuke needed. He swung his sword upwards and tore a gash out of Naruto's torso. _'Shit shit shit mother fucking Kami damned piece of shit!'_ Naruto thought as he rolled back into a crouch and grit his teeth in pain. He glanced down to see the gash ran from his right hip to his left shoulder and then looked up with a glare as Sasuke got up.

He was also worse for ware, with a wound on his stomach in the shape of a spiral.

"Surprised you survived that," Naruto remarked. Normally that would've torn a man, even if said man was a Shinobi, clean in half. Instead Sasuke somehow got away with just the deep spiral wound. It bled profusely either way, and unlike Naruto, Sasuke lacked a healing factor so it'd be there for a while. _'Or at least until he gets himself patched up,'_ the blond internally grumbled.

"I could almost say the same," Sasuke grunted as he spat blood to the side. Naruto scoffed.

"Please, I've taken a lot worse than this," he quipped. Sasuke grunted in response and then formed several hand seals. _'Oh c'mon Teme,'_ Naruto internally groaned, _'Haven't we tried to kill each other enough tonight?'_ he wondered to himself.

" _ **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**_ " Sasuke snarled and breathed a tongue of fire out at Naruto. The blond mutely lunged to the side and ran as Sasuke breathed out a flamethrower with his jutsu. However the dark haired teen had to end his technique after a short time and Naruto turned and lunged at him. He grabbed Sasuke and then ran to the nearest wall and slammed him bodily into it.

He then reared a fist back and slammed it into Sasuke's face, only for the dark haired teen to vanish in a plume of smoke. _'Oh fucking fuck that's my trick!'_ the blond thought then grunted as Sasuke stabbed his Chokatou through his shoulder from behind. Sasuke let out several panting breaths and then twisted the Chokatou in Naruto's shoulder to get his full and undivided attention.

"Ready to give up dobe?" he questioned. Naruto just chuckled and lashed out with a fist, which Sasuke swiftly avoided by ducking to the side. However as he did Naruto raised his hands into a familiar t shaped hand seal.

" _ **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**_ " Naruto snarled as a clone appeared above Sasuke and then slammed both fists down into his skull. The blow caused Sasuke to release his Chokatou and knocked him to the ground and the clone followed up with a punch at his skull. However Sasuke rolled out of the way while the clone ripped the cokatou out of Naruto's shoulder and lunged at the dark haired teen.

The clone swung the sword at Sasuke wildly but the dark haired teen caught the blade between his palms and redirected it to the side then elbowed the clone in the face. The clone stumbled back while Sasuke flipped his sword back into his hand and sliced it in half, causing it to disperse. As he did Naruto noticed that his suit was blaring even more warnings than it had and grit his teeth.

' _Shut up,'_ he thought as he stood on shaky legs and formed two more Kage Bunshin to attack Sasuke. However the blaring got worse if at all possible and Naruto gripped the sides of his helmet fiercely. _'Shut up!'_ he thought and then started to pound the sides of his helmet. He did so until he heard a sudden sharp crack and saw spider-web cracks appear on the 'screen' in front of his face.

Yet still the blaring noise didn't abate, if anything it actually got louder as it pounded into his ears incessantly. _'Shut up, shut up, shut up!'_ he internally roared with his teeth gnashed into a fierce grimace. His briefly turned bright red while his body flared for a moment, golden flames roaring to life before he bit back and dimmed them. He couldn't let that power loose, Kurama was still asleep, and he didn't want to have to wake him up.

' _Now is so not the fucking time for this shit,'_ he thought as he slowly rose up and glared at Sasuke. Said dark haired teen ducked and dodged around the clones as they attacked him. He panted softly and then dug his sword into the ground and leaped up as one came at him. He grabbed its outstretched arm and then turned to kick it across the side of the head. The blow snapped its neck and caused it to disperse as he fell to the ground.

Sasuke grunted in pain and then grabbed his Chokatou and stood up as the other clone came at him. He twirled his sword and then turned and stabbed the clone from behind then glared at Naruto. The said blond glared right back as he got back to his feet even with warnings blaring in his ears. _'Fucking shut up already,'_ he thought angrily as Sasuke's hand began to spark.

' _Oh great… this one again,'_ Naruto grumbled as Sasuke lunged forward with a roar.

" _ **Chidori! (One Thousand Birds!)**_ " he roared and lunged at the exhausted Naruto and slammed the attack straight through his other shoulder. Naruto grunted and gasped as the attack tore through his suit and then glared at Sasuke. The dark haired teen panted heavily, his 'head wrap' having fallen away at some point. Blood flowed from a head wound and caused him to keep one eye closed.

"Give up already!" he snarled at the blond. Naruto laughed in response and glanced behind the teen.

"Why would I do that?" he questioned, "I'm winning!" he declared with a grin. Sasuke looked at him incredulously for a moment then grunted as he was roughly pulled off of the blond and then held in a hold. His hands were separated while the clone held onto him tightly. Naruto fell to the ground with a groan of pain and then chuckled to himself. Sasuke merely glared back at the clone and then at Naruto furiously.

"You and your fucking clones," he hissed darkly. Naruto just smirked in response and then vanished in a static flash. "Dammit…" Sasuke grunted then glared back at the clone as he tried to move his arms, yet the clone held firm. "You do realize… you can't hold me like this forever," he remarked. However as he did Sasuke blinked then widened his eyes as the clone formed his hands into a seal. _'Oh shit,'_ he thought to himself.

"No… but I can make a little art before I go," the clone remarked with a bit of mad laughter, "Cause as you well know Teme. Art is an explosion baby!" he exclaimed near insanely. " _ **BUNSHIN DAIBAKUHA!**_ " the clone roared. With that the clone briefly glowed and then burst into a ball of fire and heat that expanded outwards. The explosion was visible from the air outside and rocked the entire JCPD…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN** :

ERROR … ERROR

ERROR … ERROR

STATIC…

With a flash a young girl is shown. She is humming a little tune under her breath as she crawls through a vent. She hold a 'camera' out with one hand as she does so, occasionally looking at the camera with a smile. She currently has her deep crimson hair brushed back with her bangs parted to one side to frame her pretty face. Her skin is fair with an athletic build and crimson lipstick.

She wears a pair of yellow lensed cats eye goggles over her eyes, a black cat suit that was low cut enough to show a bit of cleavage with white fur lining her collar, a black cat collar around her neck, black forearm length gloves and black calf length boots with white fur lining them, a brown back pack, a bracelet with a dial and green tube running up her right arm, and metal claws grafted to her gloves fingers as well as the toes of her boots.

"Hello everybody, Markiplier here," she paused and snickered to herself, "Whoops, still not me," the girl remarked with grin. She then paused and glanced out of the vent only to hum. "Not there," she noted with a shake of her head and looked to her 'camera'. "Catgirl, Catwoman's daughter here!" she declared sultrily. She then continued to shimmy her way through the vents, idly humming the tune to mission impossible to herself.

"Anyways like I said last chapter I'm on a mission to get some things for my big official debut in like… three or so chapters," the girl noted and grinned at the camera. "Awesome right?" she questioned. She then looked around and idly pressed her foot into a vent cover and braced her body against the back of the vent to pop it open. She then stealthily looked out of the vent and hummed to herself. "Nope," she remarked and continued on her way.

"So anyways, I figured that since Sasuke decided to make an ass out of himself, again, that I could just come in and steal whatever I want from the JCPD and no one will really be able to tell the difference," she explained. She then kicked open another vent and paused, she saw a man trapped under some debris and her eye twitched. The girl slunk out of the vents and approached the man, then turned the dial on her wrist.

Instantly her body seemed to expand with an extra bit of muscle and she shuddered.

"My own personal brand of Venom," she explained, her voice a bit deeper, then frowned. "Now don't any of you start to give me lip about using it either," she remarked with a hand on her hip. "Not only did no one comment about the bio-makeup I used to turn my skin pigment white, but this brand is totally safer than what Uncle Bane uses," she remarked with a nod of her head.

"While it still gives a significant boost of strength, but no where near as much as the genuine stuff. It's actually based on the brand used by the 'good' version of Bane on Earth two… or is it three?" she explained then questioned. She hummed for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders in disinterest. She was also fairly certain that no one cared where the good Bane was from.

That decided she sauntered over to the downed policemen. She knelt down before anything else and placed a finger to his neck to check for breathing. Once she confirmed he was alive she reached out and lifted the debris off of the officer. She then used one of her feet to pull him out from under it. With him out of the way she dropped the debris and picked the man up and into a fire mans carry over her shoulder.

"Also it also lacks the memory problems and addiction caused by the genuine stuff," she remarked with a frown. "Yeah… not really sure what uncle Bane is thinking using the normal stuff, he's supposed to be smart after all," she noted with a shake of her head. She then started to walk off, the officer still over her shoulder as she found a file room. "Aha," she declared and walked inside.

She placed the officer in a nearby chair and approached the file cabinets. She briefly tried to pick the locks on them, then frowned, and dug her fingers into the metal and ripped the cabinet open with sheer brute strength. She whistled to herself as she started to sift through the files paused at one and then grinned. "There you are," she murmured as she pulled the file she wanted out of the cabinet.

She then reached up to unzip her cat suit down to below her navel and stuck the file against her midriff. She then zipped her cat suit back up and briefly adjusted it so that it felt right again. With that done she turned and walked back to the officer she found and slung the unconscious man back over her shoulder. She then glanced at her camera again and hummed to herself.

"Anyways as you can see, things are pretty bad right now," she paused as an explosion sounded. The video briefly went to static before Duela appeared once more. The girl was now in a caged room with a number of gadgets and gizmos on shelves on the walls. The police officer Duela had had over her shoulder was missing and instead she was stuffing her backpack with any kind of villainous paraphernalia she could find.

She paused when she saw the camera was on and waved chipperly.

"Hi again," she stated, "so yeah, kind of not the best time to be in here, except it is for what I want right now," she noted with a grimace. "I ended up having to dump that cop out into a dumpster cause I couldn't really keep 'im safe as I'm doing my thing here ya' know," she admitted. She then grabbed a tape out of a tray and smirked. "Aha, here's the tape from that night," she stated to herself and then slipped it into her backpack.

As she did she pulled out the 'Mother Box' from her backpack and pressed the button on it. Instantly a white portal opened and the redhead whistled to herself and sauntered through while the police station started to catch ablaze. She walked out of the other side of the portal, which happened to be her 'room' in Happy Hands Sanitarium. She took a brief moment to glance around and then brushed off her hands and suit.

"Ah so nice to be back," she remarked then paused. She reached up to touch her throat and then rolled her eyes behind her goggles. She then reached to the dial on her wrist and turned it and her body relaxed while her expanded muscles slimmed back down. "Well looks like I got out of there just in time," she remarked with a breath. She then unzipped her cat suit against and pulled the file free.

"I got what I wanted, so I'd call that a pretty successful heist, nyah?" she quipped with a giggle. She then sauntered over to her desk and hopped onto it in order to lay across it with a yawn. She half curled in on her self and then reached up to raise her goggles to her forehead to reveal her purple eyes. "So now that that bit of business is finished, how is everyone this evening?" she questioned and paused for a moment.

"Again, try to be a bit more enthusiastic, it's actually kind of hard to hear through a glass screen… especially since I can only hear text for some reason," she mused to herself. She then shrugged her shoulders and reached back into her backpack to produce the tape she'd taken from the police station. She put it and the file to the side and then crossed her arms and laid her head against her forearms. 

"Well looks like its Q and A time again, you ready lovelies?" she questioned and then rolled her eyes. "Who am I kidding, of course you are," she stated with a slow shake of her head. She then held up her phone, which she'd been using as a camera, and used it to turn on her usual camera instead. She then started to tap on her phone to bring up the reviews and hummed to herself.

" **RoyalTwinFangs** , I'd say this chapter answered your question," she remarked with a smile and moved up the list. She paused at one and tilted her head to the side, then looked to her camera, " **DocSlendy** , I have to ask what kind of Ursa?" she questioned, "cause I know some kinds of Ursa's that aren't cuddly," she remarked. She then turned back to her phone with a yawn and fanned at her mouth.

"Hello there **Isumo** ," she stated with a cheerful wave to the camera, "thank you for the luck but I can assure you my 'asylum' will be fine… I hope," she admitted after a pause and then cleared her throat. "As for your 'mission' it's fine, the author has asked me to inform you that it won't be on the books until I join Tartarus… and the group actually forms of course. So consider it a potential future mission," she explained cheerfully.

"If you have further missions feel free to suggest, but try not to make anything that Tartarus might try to steal, that way it doesn't influence the main plot of the story and we can just have some fun with the missions as a break from the plot. Anyways thanks again Isumo, hope to hear from you again," Duela replied and then glanced back at her phone. She languidly flicked her finger across the screen to the next review.

"Well hello again **axc-o** , the author apologizes for that, he didn't think it was actually that hard to follow himself but he has been into a lot of comic books lately so maybe that has something to do with it," she remarked thoughtfully. She then yawned hugely, revealing the sharp fangs in her mouth before she smacked her lips. "As for your contract," she clicked her tongue and sighed with a sad shake of her head.

"Unfortunately the Author has decided that all 'missions' suggested by the audience will be stand alone chapters. Essentially this means that they won't really affect the main plot of the story aside from breaking it up on occasion or being used as a way for the author to do something 'fun' that doesn't have to be heavy in story. I also wouldn't kidnap Gar, he's not my type," she stated with a shake of her head.

She then sighed and glanced back to her phone.

"While that is a fair point **DarkLord98** , unfortunately you seem to have underestimated the ability for a ghost to turn intangible… it's annoying and why Naruto is afraid of ghosts. He can't punch a ghost," she stated with a shake of her head, "In a purely physical fight Naruto has an advantage, but because of the intangibility Danny could simple remain intangible for who knows how long until Naruto finally tires," she explained and then paused.

"Admittedly it would be a very long and drawn out fight and Naruto would probably still get in a few lucky hits, but in the end he wouldn't be able to overcome someone who can turn intangible… at least until he can grab the Specter Deflector and Ghost Gauntlets," she admitted with a smirk. "This story also takes place after DP has ended, Dani is out in the world and Danny is a legitimate world saving hero," she continued and frowned.

"While the author feels the last season of DP was weak, he'd much rather have a Danny who can fight on par with Naruto rather than another hero the ninja can trounce. Final Season Danny was probably at his strongest and most confident. We feel at that point in his life, Danny has the highest chance of matching Naruto in a one on one fight even without the intangibility hax," the girl explained with a nod.

"As for Chitin, well she'll play any videogame if she has fun playing it. She isn't as hyper competitive as BB and Cy can get. She plays games for the love of the game, not anything else. The voting missions thing would require a lot more people suggest missions, we have two or three at the moment," Duela remarked with a frown, "Which might mean we can just lump 'em all together," she noted with a nod.

"Sasuke is… well… the author hates him, that's all there is to it. He's an ass because the author honestly hates the guy. Much as Naruto said, in this fic Naruto is selfish, but the author believes that Sasuke is psychotic. Because you have to admit he seems to be at least a little psychotic sometimes," the redhead noted and then turned back to her phone and flipped to the next review she needed.

"Huh… **D N Walker** , we're honestly surprised anyone remembered that aspect of the original fic. The author has considered that of course, but he thinks it might be too out there if he did it outside of a stand alone chapter. Snake is about as far as he'll go with the Konami crossovers aside from maybe a cameo or something. As for the rewrite, his exact reasoning aside from his writing ability is that he felt he put too many crossovers into the story and it got out of hand," she stated with a nod.

She then looked back to her phone.

"You make a good point **V01dSw0rd** , however in that story Raven was significantly younger than Naruto and he actually had something to teach her… sort of," Duela paused and leaned back with a hum. "Didn't Doctor Fate and Zatana technically teach her more than Naruto… I know she was kind of his 'Robin' there but…" she hummed to herself and then shook her head.

"Aside from that Naruto will have a student in this story in the form of Dani, with an I, Phantom again. The author likes Dani and she has powers Naruto can actually help her with. Despite being ghostly they behave similar enough to chakra that he can actually teach her to fight, unlike Raven who at this point wouldn't listen to a thief slash mercenary," she explained and then looked back to her phone for the next review.

"Ravager is almost assured at this point, **revan228** , unless you mean one of the original iterations of the character, like Slade's brother Kain I think or even his firstborn son Grant Wilson," she noted and then hummed to herself. "A Killing Joke chapter is kind of coming in the form of my back story…" she paused and then looked around, "Wait what? What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned and looked around worriedly.

"A-Anyways, moving on," she stated hurriedly, then narrowed her eyes, "Not really, the author doesn't make enough money to afford the game and a system or a computer capable of handling it. He's still on his 2005 dinosaur which he used to write the original RXR," she replied then smirked, "Aside from that McCree got nerfed, ha!" she happily crowed then glanced back to her phone.

" **Hootyman** ," Duela paused at the name and then snickered to herself, "Sorry! Sorry, sorry," she stated as she patted her chest. "Sorry, just that name, wow, anyways the author admits that that is a problem but like this chapter showed the H.A.E.Y.P. thing won't pop up in every chapter so he won't reiterate what it means in every chapter," the girl explained with a nod.

"Thanks **Slash17** , I like me too!" the girl declared with a raised fist, "Anyways the Author intends for the Moth family to be around for a while, although sadly the girls won't join Tartarus. They're a family who stick together though so they will pop up doing things on their own from time to time. Jump City is pretty big so don't expect every young villain to team up," the girl explained with a nod.

" **Nightmaster000** , it's kind of hard for Cheshire not to have more personality with her actually talking this time," Duela noted with a roll of her eyes, "Sasuke an ass, that can not be denied. Although we believe he might also be psychotic given he clearly has no regard for human life… even in cannon he doesn't seem to care who he has to cut through to get what he wants," she explained with a frown.

"It's part of why the author hates him," she stated with a nod, "Things are indeed starting to heat up, sort of, the major plot of this story is just Naruto settling into his new life. The plot of the original just wouldn't work now since Kurama and Naruto aren't at each others throats," the girl explained then grinned, "well technically it was confirmed a few chapters ago that Dani would join," she remarked then glanced around.

"I can also say we'll have a bit of Mercy watching out for us this time," she remarked sneakily and then giggled into her hand. "Dani will have a few issues, mostly with her identity as well as some problems with her hormones being out of whack, not to mention her genetic quirks caused by being a clone of a ghost," the redhead remarked and then clicked her tongue. "Unfortunately the author couldn't think of a good way to get Orochimaru into the story yet," she remarked with a sad sigh.

"Moving on," she remarked and flipped on her phone. She then paused and snickered into her hand, " **Toa Naruto** , the author refuses to lock down the pairing yet as it feels too early in the story to do so. Yes he did it early with Raven in the original but he felt like he had to force them together to do so. Regardless he has considered both Blackfire and Starfire, but to be honest Blackfire's 'pairing' happened in the alternate future," the girl explained and hummed.

"The author might eventually expand on what that alternate future reality entailed but for the moment he thinks it's better if you just guess how it went. I will say however his reasons for leaving her did involve how she treated Starfire, and that they are far worse than anything they actually put in the show… yet are all sadly cannon in the comics thereof," she remarked with a grimace and then moved to the next comment.

"Hi again **OBSERVER01**! Say do you have siblings that are 02 or 03 or something like that?" the girl questioned then snorted and snickered into her hand, "Anyways Sasuke is an ass and he's impatient, these are qualities he's always had. Even in cannon he doesn't have any patience and he often does the quickest easiest method of doing things rather than any other way," the girl explained with a solemn nod.

"Actually **Snipa** , the author is considering using more of Willow in the future though not as a member of Tartarus and more as a side character. She's the Author's own character from an unmade story involving her and Masquerade. She was created years ago, as was Masquerade as a supporting character, alongside Two-Bit and a few others. They might all show up, or he could completely omit them," the girl mused aloud.

"Anyways," she stated with a shrug then paused, "What do you mean Beware the Scare Crone…" Duela paused and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Her memories started to go back to a dark night, an old dirt road, a man, a woman, a gun, and shadows… my god the shadows… She quickly shook her head of those thoughts and shuddered heavily. "N-Never mind! D-Don't think about it," she muttered and then repeated like a mantra under her breath.

"Hi **PugTheMagician** , yeah that wasn't me, worst I did was go on an all out pranking spree with the whole of Tartarus and hit BB with a rickenbacker like Haruhara Haruko while riding a vespa with Dani," the girl noted then sat up and reached into her backpack. She then, somehow, pulled a full sized blue rickenbacker bass guitar out and idly strummed on the strings. She paused for a moment and looked to the camera with an amused smirk.

"What? I love Haruko! I'd totally be her if I could!" the girl declared cheerfully, "I also get to hit people with a guitar, what's not to love?" she questioned. "Yeah she's definitely messed up, she's some random girl who was living in the sewers or something," Duela noted with a nod of her head, "What hints? I haven't been leaving clues around without thinking have I?" she questioned warily, then cleared her throat and moved on.

"Dude you should totally watch Young Justice! Yeah the first few episodes are kind of weak but that's the same with any show really," she stated with a nod then read on and hummed to herself. "We actually wanted it to be different as while Sasuke does think of Naruto as a 'friend' we're not sure he knows how to be a friend or what it means. Sasuke is kind of… well… we think he's psychotic to be honest," Duela stated with a sigh.

"Naruto did screw up a jutsu to get here, but as seen in the story it's close to what happened in the original, although Naruto is more 'selfish' this time around instead of being fed up with Konoha in general he wanted time to 'put his head back together' as it were," the girl explained and then frowned, "And really given that Jiraiya's death and the war happened in like the span of a month I wouldn't blame him, some messed up shit happened in that time… and he lost an arm," she remarked.

"Actually **carl9390** we looked it up and no, no he does not know Jiraiya's camouflage technique… which kind of figures with Jiraiya. He basically spent the whole of two years training Naruto to better use the Kyuubi's chakra, yet somehow managed to screw that up pretty badly if the first half of Shippuden is anything to go by," the redhead explained and then hummed as she moved on.

"Well **CecilRedwing** , the author does NOT have a . He's not even sure what they entail to be honest, besides he likes to write for you guys and doesn't need anything more to want to write… sure he could probably use some extra cash but he is of the opinion that he doesn't do enough to actually deserve it," the redhead explained and then hummed to herself as she moved on.

"As for BB and Kitten, just wait and see… but FYI to you and everyone who has asked, the Author actually enjoyed writing those two together. He also found it odd that he's literally the first and likely the only one to actually put them together. He found more with Kitten and Robin together than he thought possible though," the redhead noted with a shake of her head and flicked her phone.

"To be honest **the shadow overlord279** the author has kind of forgotten what he'd wanted to do with the original story. He's gone back to read it a time or two but has never been able to really think of any way of making a sequel really work. He set up ways but in the end it felt to him like he was just trying too hard back then," the girl explained and then tapped on her chin as she looked at the next one.

"Unfortunately **Kid Coheed** , we're pretty sure Team Taka disbanded long before the end of the war. Karin definitely left as we see her elsewhere later, and as for Suigetsu or Juugo… well your guess is as good as ours on where they went. We're still debating on the pairing and I've been making some suggestions, but the author wants to keep it open for now," she explained and then hummed to herself.

"Actually the author recently had an idea for the DP crossover when it finally happens, most likely it'll take place at the same time as the 'Trigon Arc' to explain where he was when all that shit went down. In any case that'll lead into my other answer, wherein I say that the Trigon storyline isn't actually going to show up this time, since Naruto isn't as close to Raven and Kurama isn't an asshole," the girl explained then looked to her next review…

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU CHRIS! FUCK YOU!" the random parrot randomly exclaimed loudly as it shot from the screen of her phone. The girl yelped in response then quickly ducked down under its wildly slashing talons. She then looked up and blinked as the bird vanished into a random boom tube. She blinked for a moment in shocked silence then looked to the sky.

"Uh… Mister Author Dude… did… did you just turn the random parrot from **Evil Reviewer** 's review into a reference to ' _ **What a Dramatic Life**_ '?" she questioned. She received silence as her answer and then busted out laughing. She held her sides and fell back onto her back nearly crying because she laughed so hard. After a moment she sighed and sat up with a brilliant smile.

"Yes, Chitin is an OC **OMAC001** , the author rarely uses them, and even then he tries to only slip them in as side characters. So don't worry about any of them taking over the fic, he hates when that happens. As you can see in this chapter things didn't go quite as they did in Cannon after Naruto and Sasuke's fight. This is an AU of after their final battle. This was to explain why Naruto isn't a hero and why he isn't looking for a way back home," the girl explained.

"Yes, **Forest of Frozen Winds** , Birth of the Seekers will get a 'Rebirth' as it were. Much like the actual KH series the author plans to title it 'NU: RE: Birth of the Seekers' as it fits on multiple levels," she explained and then yawned into her clawed gloved hand and smacked her lips. She idly checked the time on her phone and stretched her arms up into the air. With a quick glance around she nodded and smiled at her camera.

"Anyways that seems to be all the reviews the last chapter got, want more of me in the AN then please be sure to ask a question, send in a mission or whatever else you might have! And no, the questions really can be anything you want, I don't mind, I rather like to talk to you all. It feels more personal than just talking to the sky like I used to do… though I do kind of miss Deadpool," she admitted and pulled a picture of the merc with a mouth from her backpack.

She then sighed and snapped her fingers and the camera shifted to static…

STATIC … KEY 3

Rqh fdqqrw hvfdsh qru iohh ru klgh

STATIC … KEY 2

Htqo vjg oqpuvgt nwtmkpi fggr kpukfg

00


	7. Past and Present PT3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 6**_ : _**Past and Present Pt. 3**_ …

00

(?)

Uchiha Sasuke was not a fan of pain. He didn't mind giving pain to others, but he did not like being in pain. He wouldn't complain about minor wounds, but when he was badly beaten he truly despised the pain. Thankfully, the number of times he was wounded badly enough for it to be an issue were few and far between. Unfortunately, it seemed like Uzumaki Naruto excelled at leaving him in pain…

Most would wonder about the 'Zetsu' arm and why the cells from it weren't healing him as they had 'Tobi'. Plainly put Sasuke wasn't sure, he had many theories though. Chief among them being that one needed Hashirama's chakra as well as his cells for the regeneration to work. That in mind and Sasuke was plainly out of luck. It could also be that the cells in his arm had mutated, but whatever it was he wasn't sure.

He grunted and palmed his wounded abdomen as he made his way back to his, and his allies, hideout. He briefly paused to hide in the shadows as the orange girl flew overhead with a green light in her hand. That the light happened to be one of her explosive balls of energy didn't matter. Sasuke was injured in the extreme, between being set on fire, being trapped in a point blank explosion, and that Rasengan, he was very injured.

' _The dobe was never this vicious in the past,'_ he noted to himself with a grunt. He also admitted it might make things more interesting this time. He admitted if only to himself that Naruto's usual tactics were sorely lacking in ruthlessness. This new Naruto however appeared to have that in spades. Sasuke briefly wondered if this was truly new, or if the blond had just been hiding his ruthless streak for years…

Either way, it was nice to see he wasn't dealing with the same 'dobe'.

He shook his head of such thoughts and looked back up. He watched as the redheaded girl looked for him as carefully as she could. From her vantage she could possibly see him, but he was a Shinobi, he could effortlessly escape. So he did, moving into the dark shadows and slipping off into the night. He stumbled only briefly but didn't make a sound loud enough for her to notice.

He admitted to himself that he didn't want to get into a fight right now. He was only half sure at this point that he could take the girl in a fight in his present condition. Although he could use the Amaterasu on her the powers of the people in this world always muddied things up. If it'd been the leader of the 'Titans' he'd have taken him out without a second thought. But the others weren't so easy to predict how effective his Amaterasu would be.

The hooded girl would simply vanish before he could hit her, the Amaterasu was fast but not quite fast enough to catch a teleporter. The Metal Man was likely immune to fire in general. The green one could transform into an animal that could lose its tail then regenerate to take the damage. He plainly wasn't sure of the orange one, he was fairly certain she had a level of invulnerability though and he wasn't sure to what extreme, as such it was just best not to take unnecessary chances at that moment.

He stumbled through the city, bleeding profusely, and made his way into the sewers. He grimaced in disgust and made his way as far from the JCPD as he could. He had never expected to capture Naruto; the blond was tricky in the extreme even before he'd become violent. Again Sasuke admitted that a Naruto willing to do extreme bodily harm was a rather nice change of pace.

He chuckled to himself as he palmed the wall on his way through the sewers. He was burned, battered, beaten, and bruised, but he didn't care. Sakura could heal that when he got back to their 'hideout'. Back in Konoha Kakashi had felt that sending him and Sakura after the blond was a good idea. They had known him longest, in his words, but he'd also sent several others just in case he decided to fight them.

Sasuke had briefly considered getting his old team Taka together for the mission, but Naruto didn't know them and Kakashi didn't trust him around the blond without supervision. Sasuke admitted, if only to himself, that Kakashi never specified how big of a piece he wanted. The dark haired teen wouldn't kill Naruto of course, but he might chop off a limb or two for the trouble he'd put them through thus far.

Regardless, Naruto's clones made it difficult to fight him with only two or so people, and so of course he had had to send more than a full team after him. Unfortunately they were separated on the actual hunt for the blond. They had split up to search two potential locations for him; one was in Nami no Kuni as he was the nations hero so would be openly welcomed. As it turned out, that was a dud and Naruto wasn't that obvious.

He'd actually hidden himself in a cave beneath a massive tree in the 'Tree Revival Village' on the outskirts of Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni. Apparently the blond had been there during his training with Jiraiya and used it as a hideaway. From what they had learned he had defeated a wolf demon by the name of 'Kageboshi (Black Shadow)' while he was there and had became the hero of that village as well.

The difference was that he and Sakura didn't know about it, so wouldn't expect it…

' _It was a clever move sending a Kage Bunshin towards Nami on foot and then going the other way by tree,'_ the Uchiha admitted to himself. It had certainly been enough to get rid of half of their team. Unfortunately Sasuke hadn't bought that Naruto would be so obvious. The fight before had shown him that the blond was being extra tricky, so he all but dragged his half of the team elsewhere.

Well most of it, he'd had one person who supported his decision and it wasn't Sakura. It was kind of amusing that the girl thought she knew the blond better than he did. Sasuke admitted he wasn't around Naruto as much, but he had an almost innate understanding of him. He wasn't complicated most of the time, but then again, Sasuke actually appreciated that about Naruto. Complicated people were just annoying.

Sasuke paused his thoughts as he came to a ladder out of the sewers and grunted as he took a breather. He then glanced back at the trail of blood he'd left behind with a frown. _'Can't go back with that following me,'_ he thought to himself. He then slowly lowered down and sat back against a wall. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he muttered and a clone appeared. He glanced up at it and then leaned back with a grunt.

"Find the others… tell them where to find me," he ordered and then closed his eyes. The clone didn't need to be told twice as it hurried off to find the rest of his team while he waited in the sewers…

00

(JCPD…)

Robin grunted as he pulled a police officer out from under some debris. The man was badly injured but thankfully still breathing. He brushed his wrist across his forehead and turned to Raven. "Alright Raven, I got him," the leader of the Titans stated. Raven gave a minuet nod and allowed the lockers to drop while she formed a black circle under the police officer then lifted him up.

"That's four," she noted. Robin hummed in response and looked to his friend seriously.

"Anyone else nearby?" he questioned. Raven closed her eyes and concentrated and then slowly shook her head.

"Not unless they're," she left hanging. Robin scowled but understood her meaning.

"Get us out of here," he ordered. The violet haired girl nodded and formed a black bird behind her that transported them to the front of the JCPD building. There were already fire crews hard at work trying to put out the fires. The officers they had already been taken to several ambulances. A few had remained solely to look after those with minor wounds while those who were grievously injured were rushed to the hospital.

"We got another one," Robin stated as he and Raven took their latest find to a stretcher. A pair of paramedics quickly picked the man up and rushed him to a nearby ambulance. Robin sighed and palmed his face tiredly; Raven placed a hand on his shoulder in an brief gesture of comfort then turned as BB and Cy hurried out of the building. They saw that Cyborg carried a woman in his arms while BB had taken the form of a rhino and had two men slung over his back.

Robin and Raven briefly glanced at one another with frowns. The JCPD had suffered a serious blow tonight. They'd lost over a dozen officers, with more injured. It would take a lot before they were back to full capacity. Until then, they would have to keep a much closer eye on the city. They already paid a decent amount of attention of course, but now it'd be a much closer watch.

They turned from one another as BB and Cy came by. Cyborg placed the woman onto a gurney while BB halted so a pair of paramedics could collect the men from his back. Once they were taken BB returned to human form while Cyborg looked to Robin with a grim frown. "Couldn't find anyone else," he remarked. Robin inclined his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Same," he admitted. Raven nodded while BB sighed and rubbed his hair.

"Dude this was seriously not something I'm used too from our guys," BB remarked which got a look from Cy. Robin mutely hummed, he knew of more of BB's past than he cared to admit. Background checks worked wonders for that. Besides, Batman had had quite the bit of Info on the Doom Patrol and its members.

"You've seen stuff like this before?" he questioned. BB briefly felt his eye twitch and then silently nodded his head. He recalled said incidents quite clearly, none of which had been pretty…

"No comment," he murmured quietly. Cy decided not to pry and instead looked back to Robin.

"Star not back yet?" the older teen questioned. Robin grunted and shook his head. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he considered what'd happened tonight. Aside from X popping back up, they also had a nutcase with a sword and the ability to manipulate fire and electricity running around. _'Possible control of friction?'_ he briefly considered then shook his head as Starfire dropped down from the sky.

"Anything?" he questioned. The redhead shook her head.

"I am regretting to inform that I was not finding anyone. I am believing they moved before I could locate them," she replied. Robin growled to himself in agitation. He wasn't agitated with Starfire; he was agitated with the situation in general. They had a completely unknown player in the city. Whoever he was he was someone with seemingly no concern for human life and a very violent disposition.

Honestly, Robin didn't want another major villain moving into Jump now that Slade was gone.

' _We need answers, who was that guy? Where did he get his powers? How are he and X linked? Why were they fighting in the first place? What was X even doing here? Has he always been that fast? What else is he hiding?'_ the boy wonder internally questioned with a scowl. There were too many other questions and not enough answers. He briefly bit the tip of his thumb while Cyborg grunted.

"Do we at least know what X was doing here?" he questioned. Robin hummed and then shook his head in response. Cy threw his hands into the air and scowled. "Great so tonight's a total bust then?" he questioned darkly. Robin clicked his tongue in response and then pointed to the side. Cy followed his finger to a brown haired police officer with a scruffy beard and a cigarette between his lips.

Cyborg turned from the man and looked to Robin curiously.

"I got some information from him about our new 'friend'," the boy wonder admitted with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. It'd been a long night… "But for now lets all head back to the tower and rest up. I'll fill you all in on what I found out in the morning," he suggested. Cy nodded and then stalked off while BB hurried after his friend. "Coming girls?" Robin asked but Raven glanced at Starfire out of the corner of her eye.

"We'll fly back," she suggested. Robin nodded and then marched to his bike and hopped on. He briefly slipped his helmet on and then shot off like a dart before Cy and BB followed him in the T-Car. Once the boys were away Raven looked to Starfire.

"So…" she began languidly, "did you ever see or hear about that sword guy in the future?" she questioned. Starfire glanced at the girl and then shook her head.

"No friend, I did not," she replied. Raven frowned in response and wondered if this had been a change caused by Starfire altering the past or just something she hadn't learned about ahead of time. "We should return home," Starfire remarked and yawned into her hand tiredly. "I am feeling very much the tired now," she admitted. Raven idly inclined her head in agreement and both girls shot off towards Titans Tower…

00

(Naruto's Apartment…)

Technically outside the apartment is Naruto himself. The blond groaned in pain as he appeared on the roof of his apartment building. He paused briefly to slam his fist against the side of his head as his helmet continued to blare warnings at him. _'Oh sweet Kami-Sama shut the hell up!'_ he internally pleaded as he gripped both sides of his head with his hands and groaned pitifully.

The sun was just starting to rise on the horizon. He'd literally been up all night and felt like he'd been put through a blender. Given the number of cuts, gashes, stabs, burns, and other miscellaneous injuries and blemishes that now marred him and his suit, that wasn't all that far from what happened. Naruto also thanked Kami for his healing factor, and then remembered to thank Kurama…

Whenever the lazy bag of fur decided to wake up that is.

Regardless, he was exhausted and unfortunately injured pretty badly. He'd been through worse however so knew a night or two of sleep and he'd be back up to full strength. Sasuke on the other hand would be worse for ware and would take extensive healing to recover. _'So I shouldn't have to worry about the Teme for a while,'_ he noted to himself and then trudged over to the fire escape of his apartment.

He slowly made his way down while blood dripped from his wounds. He made a mental note to pick on the kids for getting in his way later. _'What kind of prank does this shit deserve I wonder?'_ he briefly considered with an amused chuckle. He then groaned and leaned into the railing of the fire escape as his wounds throbbed and the incessant blaring of sirens in his helmet wouldn't abate.

' _Kami-Damn it Giz… next time you build me a super suit, take out the fucking klaxons!'_ the blond internally snarled. The noise was almost worse than his wounds at this point. He could deal with pain, fairly easily no less, but that noise was honestly starting to drive him insane. He shook his head and continued down the ladder and reached his apartment window. He glanced inside and frowned.

Mammoth was at his fridge, raiding it no less, which he should've expected. The man mountain tended to eat when he wasn't busy with something else. Gizmo was looking around his place, being the nosey little ass he was known to be. Then there was Jinx, who was seated on his couch staring at his tiny TV and worriedly wringing her skirt into knots for some reason or other…

' _Oh wait, I did just blow up the roof of the JCPD… I kind of hope they blame that on Sasuke,'_ the masked blond admitted to himself. He then reached down and slowly lifted his window so he could listen in on the Troika.

"Oi, why does Temp live in this rinky dink apartment?" the tiny terror demanded. Mammoth shrugged as he ate a sub sandwich made from the contents of Naruto's fridge… all of it's contents no less. Jinx noticed this and stood up with a scowl.

"Would you shut up!" Jinx snarled at Gizmo then glared at Mammoth, "And stop eating him out of house an home!" she growled at the man mountain. Mammoth glanced down at his sandwich and then looked to either side before he took another bite of it. Meanwhile Gizmo rolled his eyes and smirked at her.

"Chill out, we're just exploring a little," the tiny terror remarked. Jinx snorted in response and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No you're being nosey!" she chided and then looked at Mammoth, "And you're eating all his food!" she grumbled. Mammoth just shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat his sandwich without a care in the world. Truth be told he wasn't all that worried about Naruto, the blond was able to handle himself. He had managed to beat all three of them in a three on one fight after all.

"Oh c'mon, you can't tell me you aren't curious about Tempest?" Gizmo remarked with an amused grin. Jinx blushed lightly, but it wasn't visible to Naruto as he slowly climbed into the apartment. "I mean the guy never really talked about himself all that much," the tiny terror remarked with a frown. He found that sort of odd actually, given how open and friendly the blond usually seemed…

"Regardless," Jinx began as she placed her hands on her hips. She also thought it strange that despite how seemingly open he was, Naruto never spoke about his past. He talked about his former home, his people's history, abilities, and other general things, but never about his personal history. Still, "Tempest is secretive for a reason, it's not our place to judge or question him, just to understand that he has things he doesn't want to talk about," she stated with a nod.

She neglected to mention that if it were anyone else she'd have busted into his stuff for answers herself.

Gizmo scoffed at that while Mammoth smirked. They all paused however when Naruto chuckled and then turned to the blond. Jinx gave a horrified gasp upon seeing the blond in his injured state while Mammoth and Gizmo gaped. The blond himself blinked his eyes and then groaned as he placed a hand onto his wounded torso then stepped, IE stumbled, toward his couch.

"Thanks for the sentiment Jinx," he remarked then looked at them, "Giz… please turn the noise off in my helmet?" he pleaded with his hands held to his head. Gizmo blinked for a moment and then slowly nodded his head. "Aside from that, you guys go do whatever it is you do," he stated then raised a hand, "I'mma pass out now," he declared then fell onto his couch with a sigh.

"Tempest!" Jinx cried and hurried to the blond's side. Gizmo swore up a storm and leaped over to the blond.

"Holy mother of crap!" the tiny terror exclaimed, "What the fuck did he do to my suit!?" he demanded furiously and Jinx fixed him with a dark look, eyes glowing pink. "Uhhh… I mean oh no, he's hurt," he remarked blandly. Jinx narrowed her eyes and smacked the back of the tiny terrors head. He gave a cry and then swore vengeance while Mammoth approached with a frown.

"He okay?" the man mountain questioned. And in his defense, they'd all seen the blond take some pretty impressive punishment in his time at the academy. The Headmaster had been genuinely curious about how much the blond could take as far as damage after all. The number of random attacks on his person had even been in the triple digits nearing the end of his days at the academy.

"Fuck if I know," Gizmo grumbled as he plugged his backpack into the X-suit and started to check what was going on. He pulled out a keyboard from his back and pulled down his goggles to check what was going on. "The hell?" he muttered as he started to look over the codes while Jinx looked at the masked thief worriedly.

"I-Is something wrong?" the rosette questioned. Gizmo grunted in annoyance as he continued to look over the code. Mammoth just shrugged his shoulders and then went off to find something to occupy his time. He wasn't the guy you went too when you were injured, he was the guy who typically did the injuring. If they wanted someone to look after the injuries they'd have to get someone like Shimmer…

' _Might need to call Selinda,'_ he considered to himself. Shimmer had always been the careful one between them, and of course that meant she took the medical courses back in the academy. Mammoth had even encouraged her to do so; given how he was often in the thick of things, having someone around to patch him up was nice. Not to mention how his girl Leviathan could probably use the medical care as well…

As Mammoth lost himself to his thoughts, Gizmo noticed all the alarms the suit was letting off and slowly raised a brow. He had thought he'd disabled those when he finished the suit, then again he'd been in a hurry at the time. So he started to sift through the code for the alarms and then grimaced. A number of the alerts were warning that several circuits had been cut, normally not a problem, but they were designed to absorb chakra and now had nowhere to go…

"Well that explains why he passed out," he muttered to himself. Jinx leaned towards him.

"What happened?" she questioned. Gizmo crossed his arms with a frown.

"The suit got shredded and he's hemorrhaging chakra," the tiny terror replied with a frown, "When I designed the suit it was built to absorb chakra and use it as a power source. However when he went and got all those cuts it severed several circuits. Problem is I never designed a cut off so it just kept drawing more and more chakra instead of shutting off," he explained. Jinx frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"Why didn't you put in a cut off then?" she questioned with a frown. Gizmo turned and snarled in response.

"I was in a fucking hurry to finish titless wonder!" he shouted at her. She growled and smacked his head again. "Ow!" he exclaimed and rubbed the back of his head, then glared at the rosette furiously. "Dammit stop doing that bitch!" he snarled at her. She narrowed her eyes in response.

"Anyways," she grumbled and crossed her arms, "how do we help Tempest?" she questioned bluntly. Gizmo muttered under his breath and then sighed.

"First we need to get him out of this suit. His chakra normally causes his body to regenerate, but because his suit is causing him to hemorrhage chakra he doesn't have enough of it to heal himself," the tiny terror explained. Upon hearing this Mammoth turned to them from the kitchenette.

"That's all you two, I'm having no part of that," he declared with a resolute nod then turned back to making himself another snack. He liked Tempest, but he wasn't about to undress a guy. Jinx could have first dibs on that and Gizmo kind of owed him. Far as Mammoth was concerned he wasn't getting involved with that shit. Jinx and Gizmo glanced at one another in response.

"Well looks like you're helping," Gizmo noted. He then smirked and looked at the rosette with clear amusement. "Just try not to enjoy it too much," he teased. Jinx frowned and flicked the tiny terror across his nose. He grabbed at his face and then scowled.

"Shut up," she grumbled then had a thought, "maybe I should call someone to look at him first," she muttered. Gizmo blinked and gave her a strange look.

"Bitch this isn't the time to call chicks to check out Tempest in his sleep," he reminded her. Jinx felt her eye twitch and glared at him furiously.

"One, I don't have any girl friends," she growled at the tiny terror. If she had any 'girl friends' she might not hang around them as much as she did… "Second, I meant should we call someone who can check to make sure he's not going to die!" she growled at Gizmo. The tiny terror just snickered to himself as he managed to get Naruto's helmet off, revealing his spiky blond hair and whiskered face.

"Yeah I know that, I was just messing with you," the tiny terror stated with a snicker.

"This is not the time for jokes Gizmo!" she snarled, "Tempest has two holes in him, and a gash that looks fucking deep!" she all but roared with a wave to the blond. Gizmo rolled his eyes then shrugged in response.

"Bitch, I honestly don't care that much," he stated bluntly. Was Naruto his friend, yes, did that mean he cared if he lived? Not really if he were totally honest. Gizmo generally just tolerated the blond and his… quirks… because he actually used his tech. The number of people that used his tech was depressingly low. He figured the X-suit would make a big stir and he'd have people coming to him for his designs for once.

Jinx however scowled and pulled out her H.I.V.E. communicator. She paused and considered her options as she pulled up a list of other students on her communicator. She briefly paused as she looked down the list of names and then considered the many people she knew. The number of people she knew with any legitimate medical training was actually depressingly low…

"Seemore," she considered with a frown. To be honest she had hated the one eyed freak since she found out he was staring at her, and other girls, with his X-Ray vision… "Pass," she growled and moved down the list. As she did Gizmo managed to open the X-Suit and then looked at her with a frown. He saw that she was flicking through her communicator and glared darkly.

"Hey! I told you to help me get him out of this fucking thing!" he snarled. The girl blinked and looked back to the tiny terror curiously.

"How?" she questioned. Gizmo palmed his face, muttered to himself, and then sucked a breath in through his teeth.

"Reach inside the suit and hold him as I pull the god damned thing off" he growled at the girl. Jinx blinked for a moment and then took a breath and reached inside of the suit. She gently maneuvered herself to where she was hugging his chest to her as Gizmo pulled the arms of the suit off of the blond. As she did Gizmo smirked to himself. "Are you enjoying yourself?" he teased, she glared at him in response.

"He's been cut up and is bleeding out all over me," she deadpanned, though with a slight tinge of pink to her cheeks. She wouldn't admit it, even under pain of death, but it was kind of nice to be holding the blond. The whole incident with Blood mind controlling her to pursue 'Stone' had been bad enough on its own. The absolute worst part about it was the fact she'd never got to pursue a relationship with Tempest…

00

[Flashback…]

(H.A.E.Y.P., Jump City…)

Jinx sat in the room of her teammates, Mammoth and Gizmo. She had a bemused expression as she watched Gizmo set up a device at his desk. Meanwhile Mammoth was talking to his little sister, Selinda Flinders, AKA Shimmer. Though admittedly, the first time Jinx saw Selinda she didn't think she was actually Mammoth's sister. Aside from the red hair, they didn't look alike at all.

Mammoth was a tall burly fellow with an auburn mullet with sideburns and a goatee as well as hair all over his tan skinned body, beady eyes, not to mention his severe under bite, which vaguely resembled fangs or tusks. The guy also had an odd style of dress with a sleeveless all black bodysuit with an H or M made of yellow metal over his torso and a yellow metal grafted to the feet of his suit, not to mention his heavy looking wristbands.

Shimmer on the other hand was basically his polar opposite. She was thin, of average height, tanned skin, and had short messy auburn hair, with bright and expressive green eyes. She wore a black tank top with a smaller blue top over it, bicep length fingerless black gloves, tight black pants with a few rips and a studded blue belt looped around her waist, and thigh length black boots with blue kneepad.

She was seated at the couch, one leg propped over the other. She briefly looked at Jinx, then turned away with a bored sigh. Another odd difference between Mammoth and Shimmer was that the Australian born girl was a lot quieter than he was. Not to mention unlike Mammoth, she seemed to have retained her natural accent… assuming you could get her to talk that is.

Jinx honestly liked Shimmer, she was a step above most of her peers, but she was also a very quiet and indirect girl. She didn't attack people head on if she could help it, being more careful than Mammoth ever was. Part of that was to compliment her brother's blunt personality. Another part of it was because her powers were a bit… odd. The ability to alchemically change one substance to another was kind of rare after all.

Jinx had on numerous occasions thought about having Shimmer alchemically create gold or silver or platinum for them. She could do it too and that was the thing, unfortunately Mammoth always vetoed it when she or Gizmo suggested it. He was worried that the younger girl would overextend her powers or hurt herself. Villain or not, Shimmer was Mammoth's little sister, and he wasn't about to let her get hurt.

Still, that begged the question…

"Why is Shimmer here?" she asked curiously. Mammoth glanced at her from his place beside of Shimmer with a frown.

"What's it matter?" he questioned. Jinx internally sighed; she hated it when Mammoth went into overprotective big brother mode. It was like normal Mammoth; only it was even easier to piss him off. The big lug seemed to take offense to anything that could be misconstrued as 'harmful' to his sister in any way. Even if you just went and mocked her name, Selinda, would usually end with a beating from the man mountain.

"I'm curious because usually she's not here," Jinx remarked plainly. Mammoth grunted in response while Gizmo looked up from whatever it was he was putting together.

"I asked Mammoth to bring her," the tiny terror stated. Jinx arched a brow and glanced at Mammoth curiously.

"I thought you didn't trust her around Gizmo," she noted. Though technically it was more like Mammoth didn't trust Gizmo around Shimmer. He was Gizmo's friend, yes, but he didn't trust any guys in the H.A.E.Y.P. where his sister was concerned. Granted it was a school of villains and that made sense. This was especially true given the kind of powers the girl had…

"He asked me to bring her for something," Mammoth admitted then crossed his arms, "I'm not budging so long as she's here," he stated resolutely. Shimmer glanced at him from aside and then rolled her eyes. She understood why her brother was a bit protective of her, but she honestly found it annoying. The few times the worry had been warranted were decidedly rare and often times he just chased people off without provocation.

Gizmo turned, seemingly affronted by his tone, only to pause and consider. He then slowly inclined then nodded his head. "Eh, he's right," the tiny terror admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, "I can't be trusted," he stated with a solemn nod. Jinx snorted and then giggled into her hand while Shimmer smirked and Mammoth looked at him with a bemused smile.

Was it bad that he was being honest about that?

"Yo," Naruto stated from the doorway as he entered. Jinx yelped and fell from her seat as he did then looked at him strangely. The blond teen glanced at her and grinned, then walked to Gizmo and handed him a wakizashi. He paused and considered his words, which caused Jinx to sigh.

"Here you go," she supplied. Naruto blinked and then gave her a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes while Gizmo happily took his sword and put it in a box.

"What you doing?" the blond questioned. Jinx grimaced to herself. She was trying to teach him English, but thus far all they had to show for it was a moderate improvement. He could clearly understand them now, but he still had an obvious accent and could only speak in broken sentences. Briefly the girl wished the blond was a tamaranean so she could just kiss him and be done with the entire language barrier…

Because that was all she wanted to kiss him for! She didn't have a thing for him! Honest!

"Checking to see exactly what this thing is made out of," he replied. "Mostly cause I want to see if it can be synthetically reproduced," he admitted. He was mostly curious on whether or not Meta-Humans could use the stuff in the same way as Naruto and the rest of his species. If they could he could potentially make weapons powered by the people using them! Jinx raised a brow in response while Naruto scratched his head.

"Why?" the blond questioned. Gizmo grunted then turned to him with a scowl.

"So I can make more of the stuff!" he shouted then crossed his arms, "Duh," he grumbled. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders while Gizmo stared at the blond. He didn't look any different than last time she'd seen him. Though she did admit she was still curious about his arm. "I also need a scan of your chakra," he admitted. Naruto looked at the tiny terror dubiously.

"How?" he questioned. The one word rule had also been working really well for the blond. It'd been her idea on how to help him speed up his replies. Rather than try to word out an entire sentence, shorten it as much as you can, had been her wording. Thus far it'd worked fairly well, although the broken English was a bit off. He'd used some really off phrases on occasion…

"I have a scanner for it," Gizmo admitted only to pause. He then checked the readout on the wakizashi and openly gaped. "The fuck is this thing made out of?" he suddenly demanded. Jinx blinked and then got up, followed by Shimmer and Mammoth. They all looked at the atomic structure of the sword and it caused Jinx to frown. Naruto on the other hand shrugged, he actually wasn't sure what the Samurai made it from.

"That… doesn't look like any metal I know of," she remarked then glanced at Shimmer. Given her powers the girl was an expert on the atomic structure of the many different elements. However at her look Shimmer mutely shook her head with wide eyes. She'd never seen this atomic structure before either. Which was very impressive. Gizmo started to giggle to himself and nodded in agreement.

"No way," he murmured and then reached to the side and brought up the periodic table. He then started to giggle a little louder. Jinx and Shimmer glanced to one another and backed away slowly as he did. "This shit doesn't appear on the periodic table!" he declared and then laughed loudly. "Fuck yes! I've discovered a new element!" he exclaimed joyously. Naruto smirked in response.

"Samurai first," he remarked. Gizmo turned and pointed a finger at the blond.

"Do not fucking ruin this for me asshole! No one on earth aside from us can say that they have seen this atomic structure before!" he snarled. Naruto just smirked cheekily which caused Jinx to giggle and Mammoth and Shimmer to smirk at the tiny terror. With a grunt of annoyance Gizmo sat back down and crossed his arms. "Razza frazzin no good dirty," he started to mutter to himself.

"So what're you going to do now?" Jinx questioned curiously. Gizmo, rather than reply, reached under his desk to produce a large block of steel. He then looked to Shimmer.

"Think you can convert this stuff to match?" he questioned. The girl blinked and then tapped her chin for a moment. She then placed a finger onto the metal and it literally 'shimmered' before it changed color entirely. Gizmo grinned and placed it into his scanner, then started to cackle like a madman. "Ha! It worked!" he declared cheerfully while Mammoth patted his sister on the back.

"Nice work Selinda," he stated as he pulled her into a half hug. She returned the gesture and they walked back to the couch. As they did Jinx shook her head while Naruto looked at the block of metal with a frown.

"Now what?" he questioned. Gizmo paused his cackling to consider that. He then frowned as he realized that he needed to test the stuff… _'That could be a bitch to do,'_ he admitted to himself. He was smart, a super genius really, but even he had limits on the things he could make. Figuring out how to do with tech what those Samurai had been doing naturally for generations would be quite the project…

"I… have a few ideas," he murmured and clicked his tongue. He also considered the idea of making outlines of the 'seal' things that Naruto could use. If he used the metal and formed them into the shapes of the seals maybe he could use them to absorb the chakra from the blond. If that worked he could have them wired into circuits then used to power something… but what was extremely power intensive that he…

Wait a second… no… no… maybe… oh wait, there it was!

"I've got it!" he declared. Naruto raised a brow.

"Got what?" he questioned. Jinx nodded her head in agreement.

"Simple," the tiny terror replied with a grin then turned to Jinx, "Remember that fucked up suit Robin used to try and trick Slade?" he questioned. The rosette paused and hummed to herself, then nodded her head. "Good, I'm thinking we grab it and see if I can modify it to use Temp's Chakra instead," he replied. Naruto looked at them both curiously while Jinx frowned.

"Why that suit? Why not something more useful?" she questioned. Gizmo rolled his eyes.

"Cause he used fucking xinothium to power the thing," he replied. Jinx paused and then looked at him with wide eyes.

"Xinothium!? Isn't that stuff like super unstable and dangerous?" the girl demanded. She'd heard about the stuff from one of their many 'guest teachers', Professor Chang. Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. He really hated it when he didn't know what they were supposed to be talking about…

"Yeah and that means the suit is fucked up levels of power intensive," he replied. Jinx nodded then looked at him worriedly.

"Okay, but why does that matter?" she questioned. Gizmo pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered under his breath. Sometimes he wondered why it felt like no one else understood how he thought, and then he'd remember that it was because he was literally a super genius. Regardless he grunted and glared at the girl.

"Cause I want to test this shit out and I need something that uses obscene amounts of power to do that!" he replied with a growl. He then pointed at Naruto who had leaned back with a frown as the two talked. "Tempest has an internal power source, this metal can channel the shit, so I wanna see if I can use this shit to convert his chakra to power that damn suit!" he explained with a scowl.

"What can you do if it works?" Shimmer suddenly asked. Naruto, Jinx, and Gizmo looked at her in surprise. Shimmer rarely ever spoke; it was so rare that some members of the H.A.E.Y.P. believed she was mute. Gizmo was so surprised that he just stared for a good while. Naruto idly shook his shoulder and the tiny terror then scratched his head with a frown.

"Uh… well for one thing I could potentially make tech that'd work around Jinx," he admitted. Jinx looked to him in surprise. Her powers went wonky on occasion and she had to isolate herself to prevent them from causing untold destruction to everything around her. Specifically technology as it seemed to explode whenever she went near it. On most days she just had to heavily focus to prevent this, but it wasn't easy…

"Really?" she asked hopefully. Gizmo idly nodded his head and hummed to himself.

"Yeah, if the tech runs on your powers then the runoff wouldn't make it explode," he murmured, "or at least that's my theory," he admitted with a shrug. Shimmer frowned for a moment and idly nodded her head while Jinx glanced at the metal curiously.

"So the suit?" she questioned swiftly. She also sounded much more eager than she wanted too. But in her defense she couldn't carry around most tech unless it was heavily shielded and even then it tended to explode if she got angry… Gizmo nodded and then pulled Naruto close as he got a blueprint for Titans Tower out of his pack.

"Right Temp, this is Titans Tower, and I just bet that the Boy Blunder put that suit in the evidence room on the," Gizmo stared to explain to the blond. Naruto idly nodded his head as he internally memorized the map. He also admitted, if only to himself, that he was going to have some fun with this. This new world was very different, more peaceful, from his old one.

So he might as well bring the prankster king back to play with the 'kids'…

00

(Later…)

Jill Manx, better known as simply 'Jinx' by her friends and peers, looked at a Japanese to English book she'd gotten for her 'friend' Tempest. The boy had recently returned from a trip to Gotham to get some 'Electro-Static-Gauntlets' from the GCPD building for Gizmo. Unfortunately the blond hadn't had much time to practice speaking English as a result, though he did mention he met a 'funny lady' over there.

Jinx wasn't sure why but she had had shivers crawling up her spine after that…

Regardless the rosette believed it'd be good for the blond to have a way to practice speaking English without her. He had the basics down for the most part, the one word rule and short sentences he used were passable now. But she knew he could do better if he just tried. Which was why she'd grabbed the book while she and her team were out, IE, stole it. Although to be honest the Titans had chased her and her team afterwards…

' _And then there's the new guy,'_ she noted to herself with a frown. 'Stone' was an oddity she didn't really know how to deal with. Something about him was very familiar, as if she'd seen him before. But it was just kind of hard to place where. She'd thought he might be an old classmate from Dark-Way Prep, but he hadn't seemed to know what she was talking about.

Gizmo and Mammoth plainly didn't like him. Mammoth cause Stone was just as if not stronger than him, without the mutations. Gizmo hated him cause he was a 'teachers pet' in the tiny terrors opinion. Naruto… actually hadn't met him yet which wasn't all that surprising. Tempest liked to go out and steal stuff for Gizmo; he'd been on a rash of small time burglaries lately, which had included stealing more parts for the suit.

The Troika, the unofficial name for her team, had also gone on quite a few missions but that was where the difference came in. Naruto didn't get noticed or caught; the blond was a master of stealth when the occasion called for it. He could slip into her room at night, and had, without setting off any alarms just to set up a prank, which did in fact get her, but she was too embarrassed by it to admit it…

It'd been an average day; her alarm woke her up and she sat up blearily and rubbed at her eyes. She'd then turned her alarm off and stumbled out of bed. She made her way to the attached bathroom with a yawn. She'd been dressed in a long blue shirt and her panties, her hair was a mess and she'd been half blind from sleep. She palmed her way into the bathroom, only to pause as a cold bucket of water fell on top of her.

This had two effects, the first being that she was now soaked, the second was that she now had a bucket on her head. Jinx was quiet for a moment as she lifted the bucket to see her face in the mirror… as well as a smiling 'whiskered' face drawn onto her bathroom mirror. Her eye twitched and then she started to grind her teeth with a furious snarl across her face.

"You're a dead man Tempest!" the rosette roared as she turned and ran out of her dorm room. No one pranked her! She was the local bad-luck charm and no one dared to pull this kind of shit on her! So great was her anger and righteous was her fury that she didn't notice or care that she was running out of her room in her night clothes. It was pure luck that no one had been out and about at the time.

Instead she'd run to Tempest's dorm room and stomped into the blond boy's room. There she found him waking up, and since the blond wasn't alert she'd lunged and attempted to throttle him. Unfortunately, Jinx underestimated a few factors when she did so. First, Naruto was a warrior, second, he had insane reflexes and speed, third, she was half his weight and _**much**_ weaker…

As such it was no surprise that it didn't go well for her at all.

She had an advantage against the blond for all of five seconds before he'd snapped to alertness. When he did he briefly managed to get the girl into a hold and then arched a brow at her state of undress. He then glanced down and smirked. "Pink, really?" he quipped with a smirk. Jinx snarled and managed to slam her head back into his chin and caused them both to fall back onto his bed.

After a very brief struggle, Naruto managed to pin the girl beneath him, one hand holding her hands over her head, while the other was pressed into her stomach. She glared at the teen, panting from exertion and flushed red with fury while the blond looked at her with clear amusement. The two turned away from one another as Naruto's door opened to show a concerned Kyd Wykkyd.

Kyd had only entered after he heard the ruckus coming from his roommate's room. But it was quite easy to imagine what he thought was going on given their extremely compromising position. Kyd blinked as he silently stared at them; Jinx and Naruto both blushed furiously. Kyd then slowly backed up and the door closed once he was gone. The two instantly separated from one another, Jinx having turned bright red.

Jinx sat on the blond's bed with her hands pushing her shirt down to cover her panties while Naruto scratched at his hair awkwardly. "So…" he murmured and she glared at him with a frown. "Um… sorry," he offered with a nervous grin. Jinx huffed and turned to look to the side. It was bad enough she was damp and sitting in her friend's room in such a questionable state… it was worse that someone saw her.

Jinx's face turned red at the reminder of what'd happened and she felt her brow twitch in irritation. That had to be the single most embarrassing thing that'd ever happened to her at the school. She'd eventually forgiven the blond for his prank, but not until he'd pranked everyone else in the school as well. She could admit his pranks were pretty funny when they didn't target her. It had ended in so much terror.

The other students of the H.A.E.Y.P. were well and truly terrified of his pranks now.

She also thanked the gods that Kyd was basically a mute and didn't start rumors about her and Naruto. That scene alone would've been enough fuel for a fire to burn through the school for years to come. It was partially why she was nicer to Kyd, and by proxy his girl Angel, now. That and Kyd simply had some of the most useful powers in the entire H. .P.

After all, how many other teleporters were around?

Jinx admitted that before then, she hadn't known either Kyd or Angel all that well. Kyd had just been the quiet teleporter in the background of class most of the time. Angel had been the strange girl who'd gone and burned her old clothes when she got a new pair. _'What was up with that?'_ Jinx briefly wondered to herself. It'd been random and stuck with her, she'd once asked Angel, but the girl had been silent on the matter.

Regardless, she walked into Naruto and Kyd's shared dorm and paused. Kyd was seated at their couch with his girl Angel. Jinx honestly didn't know much about the girl beyond rumor and here say. She'd arrived around the time the Gordanians briefly invaded the city and she'd basically been glued to Kyd ever since. Jinx thought it was kind of strange, Naruto just thought they were…

"Adorable," said blond stated as he walked out of his room with a grin. He was pointing at Kyd and Angel, both of whom blinked, then looked from him to her and then returned to their snuggling. Jinx just rolled her eyes, but also had to wonder how it was that some guys didn't know that Angel was taken… it was pretty obvious with all the hand holding she and Kyd did after all.

Jinx looked at the other teens with a bemused expression on her face. Kyd and Angel weren't exactly the subtlest couple in the H.A.E.Y.P. Sure they only held hands for the most part, but they were also basically joined at the hip outside of class. If you saw one of them in the halls, it was a pretty safe bet the other was nearby. With a shake of her head she walked over to Naruto to hand him the book.

"I thought this could help, Temp," she stated. Naruto took the book and flipped through it with a hum. He idly tilted his head to the side and then looked up with a thumbs up. Jinx rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. _'All right Jill, this time for sure,'_ she thought as she inhaled a breath. "So anyways Temp, has Giz still got you going all over the place for parts?" she questioned. The blond hummed and shook his head in response.

Truth be told he'd finished gathering parts a few days earlier.

"That's good, um, so um… are you doing anything," Jinx murmured. She'd noticed she felt nervous around the blond lately. This was because she'd considered actually asking the blond on a date. Unfortunately, every time she tried to work up the nerve to do so she'd chickened out. It didn't help that both Gizmo and Mammoth had decided to make fun of her for always chickening out.

Naruto idly raised a brow then slowly shook his head in response. Though he also had to wonder what was up with the girl. _'She's acting strange again,'_ he briefly noted to himself.

"So," she mumbled and then looked down at her boots. "Tempest," she continued and then looked up to the ceiling. Naruto tilted his head with a raised brow, wondering why she was being so strange. "Um, you need me for anything?" she asked lamely. Naruto blinked and then slowly shook his head. "Right," Jinx stated with a nod. Kyd and Angel looked at the both of them, then to one another and shook their heads with visible smirks.

They found it kind of funny how Jinx was skirting around asking the blond out. It was so clear to them that she liked him it was almost painful. But neither of them bothered to tell the rosette, and they certainly wouldn't tell Naruto. Kyd because he was afraid of what Jinx might do to him, and Angel because she didn't like Jinx that much. She barely knew the rosette after all, even if they did talk more now.

"Anyways," Jinx suddenly stated. She then toed the floor while Naruto scratched his head. Was it just him or was she acting really weird… not Hinata weird either… he knew how to deal with Hinata weird. This was a whole other level of weird that he didn't know how to deal with. Admittedly Jinx was weird on most days but usually the weirdness was a lot subtler than this.

"So the Headmaster said he needed to talk to me," the girl noted with a nod over her shoulder. Naruto nodded slowly as she backed up and then waved. "I guess I'll see you later," she stated as she left the room. Naruto arched a brow and then looked to Kyd and Angel with a confused expression. _'Clueless,'_ both Angel and Kyd thought with amused smiles as they turned from the blond.

' _Stupid, stupid, stupid,'_ Jinx thought as she brought her hand to her face multiple times. She then sighed and made her way to the headmaster's office. She'd made the same mistake several times in the passed month. She tried to ask the blond out, choked, and then completely lost her nerve. She'd run off with her proverbial tail between her legs almost a dozen times now… and she felt more pathetic after each time.

' _Ugh, all I have to do is ask him out, it doesn't even take that much effort,'_ she thought to herself with a hand to her face. Given the amount of time they'd spent around one another with him learning English, it wasn't like it would be out of the blue either. If it were anyone else she was reasonably sure she wouldn't be having this much trouble either, but something about the blond just…

She paused her thoughts and shook her head as she approached the headmasters office. She sighed and stopped in front of the door. However before she could knock she heard the man's voice, "Enter," he stated. Jinx blinked and then silently walked inside and folded her hands behind her back. She saw the man sitting behind his desk; he was looking at a folder, and then glanced up as she cleared her throat.

"You wanted to see me headmaster," she remarked. The grey haired man nodded his head with a smirk.

"Ah yes, Miss Jinx," the man began, "Do tell me dear, how goes mister Tempest's lessons?" the man questioned. The rosette smiled in response.

"He's doing well, while he has some hiccups here and there he's made a lot of progress," she replied. Brother Blood nodded his head with a hum. He then steppled his fingers together and narrowed his eyes.

"Yes quite," he replied dismissively. He'd read the reports from the bond's teachers about his progress. Unfortunately that didn't include just how dangerous he was. They knew he had energy-based abilities, but he so rarely needed to use them that the full scope of those abilities was unclear. He could have clearly defined limits or no limits, they just didn't know…

To be honest, Brother Blood hated unknowns. He'd tried everything in his power to learn the full range of abilities the blond had at his disposal. From attempts to 'draft' him into the more elite courses, to sending his best and brightest to attack him at random, he'd even tried to read his mind. They all ended in failure, especially the latter as the blond's mind had disturbingly effective protections.

Whatever secrets the blond had hidden in his mind, they were too well hidden for the moment. Besides that, Brother Blood had noticed a few things about the 'teen' named Stone that interested him. While Naruto was clearly a more long-term project, he believed that Stone would be a better short-term one. It was clear to the man that the teen wasn't nearly as complicated as Naruto, and far easier to read.

"Now dear, another question if you'll allow it," the man began. Jinx nodded and the man smirked. He had a few ideas for how to keep Stone off his guard, "I'd like to know what you think of mister Stone?" the man questioned. Jinx blinked in confusion at the question… then felt as her mind seem to almost… dull…

[End Flashback…]

00

(Naruto's apartment…)

"Alright we're done," Gizmo stated as he finished pulling the suit off of Naruto. Once it was off he then went to the side to start working on the suit with a scowl. Jinx shook her head as she came out of her memories and looked to the injured blond worriedly. "Bitch if you want Temp's DNA, get it the old fashioned way," Gizmo snidely commented. Jinx felt confused until Mammoth spoke up from the kitchen.

"He means let him go since your covered in blood," the man mountain deadpanned. Jinx blinked then released the blond with a yelp. She then stood up and worriedly bit her lip, concerned for her friend's health. She then recalled Angel and Kyd. Specifically, that Angel had taken medical courses while they were in the H.A.E.Y.P. That in mind she fished her communicator back out and then swiftly looked for the name she wanted.

"Right, I'm calling Angel," she stated. Gizmo paused from where he was working on the suit and grimaced.

"Why?" he questioned of the rosette warily. Jinx blinked and looked at him askance.

"I thought you liked Angel," she noted. Gizmo grunted in response.

"I did until I found out what a fascist she is," he replied bluntly. Jinx arched a brow then looked to Mammoth for an explanation. The man mountain grunted in response and leaned back with his arms crossed.

"She helped Giz make the X-suit, she took offense to some of his design choices," the man mountain offered in explanation. Jinx looked surprised then turned to Gizmo.

"You needed help to build the suit?" she questioned. Gizmo snorted in response.

"Fuck no, Angel knows biology better than I do, so she helped with a few other problems," the tiny terror responded. Mammoth made a noise of acknowledgement.

"The batteries for the suit didn't work with Temp's 'chakra' at first among quite a few other little problems, Angel helped fix 'em," the Australian born teen replied. Jinx made an oh with her mouth. That made more sense to her than Gizmo needing help with the actual suit. Angel was smart, sure, but she wasn't anywhere near as tech savvy as the tiny terror. Regardless she pressed a button on her communicator to get in touch with the girl.

She waited impatiently while Gizmo worked on the suit and Mammoth hung around in the kitchen. Jinx had started to pace across the floor as she waited for the winged girl to pick up her communicator. _'How long does it take her to answer?'_ the rosette wondered with an internal scowl. She then exhaled a breath when she heard Angel answer. "Angel it's Jinx," she began and idly sat down.

"Look I know we don't talk much but Temp got really banged up," she stated worriedly with a glance at the unconscious blond. She then paused and listened to Angel while Gizmo started to mutter to himself. "Err… yeah, that did happen," Jinx admitted and then frowned. "Wait you told Gizmo to put a cut off in?" she questioned with a look at her tiny friend, he simply grunted.

"Tell 'er I said to fuck off!" Gizmo sneered and returned to the suit. Jinx arched a brow and then turned her attention back to Naruto.

"Yes he's still rude, but look Temp's also lost a lot of blood and he passed out a while ago," Jinx admitted worriedly. She idly started to toy with her skirt with her free hand then paused. "Gizmo said that the suit ate too much chakra for him to regenerate," she replied and heard a groan from the other end. "Wait, you warned him about that and the armor too?" the rosette demanded and glared at Gizmo. The tiny terror just scoffed.

"I was in a hurry!" he shouted. Jinx just glared at him a moment longer then pinched the bridge of her nose. She then paused as she heard Angel hang up.

"She hung up on me," she breathed then looked to the side as a black portal formed. From out of it stepped Kyd Wykkyd, Naruto's roommate and friend. The silent teen glanced from her to the others and inclined his head. "Hi," Jinx offered in surprise and Kyd held a hand to the black portal. Instantly a hand reached out of it as a familiar girl with wings stepped into the apartment.

"Angel?" Jinx questioned in surprise. The white-winged girl looked different, not physically, but her outfit had radically changed. She now wore a dark-blue halter style dress that reached mid-thigh, a pair of bicep length dark-blue gloves with silver manacles and trimming, an odd buckler shield on her left forearm, a pair of knee high dark-blue boots with silver trimming, and a silver belt with a pouch at the back of her hip.

Under her left arm was a silver helmet that had sharper features than her old one, with yellow lenses where her eyes would be. The girl wasted no time with words as she marched forward and knelt down in front of Tempest's couch. She then placed her ear on his chest and hummed to herself. She then reached into her pouch and withdrew a few bandages and started to dress the blond's wounds.

As she did Jinx sidled over to Gizmo with a questioning gaze.

"Is… is that really Angel?" she questioned. The tiny terror snorted and then nodded his head with a scowl. Jinx looked back at the girl and couldn't help but notice that he wings seemed bigger too, not to mention she seemed to have put on some muscle. "Wow…" she murmured quietly. Angel had always been 'pretty' but it seemed a lot more apparent now, though that was probably just her current lack of the helmet.

"The Thanagarian really shows huh," he noted with a frown. Jinx blinked at that and raised a brow in question.

"Thanagarian?" she asked and Gizmo nodded. As they discussed her Angel plainly ignored the both of them. Instead she focused on her friend and occasionally glanced at Kyd. Her boyfriend of some time looked at his friend worriedly as his girlfriend dressed his many wounds. As she did the mindless task, Angel allowed her mind to drift back to when she first came to earth and met Kyd…

00

[Flashback…]

Her name was Aung Ha'rell. She was a Thanagarian from the planet Thanagar. She was also a prisoner of war before she arrived on Earth. The transport that brought Starfire to Earth had not simply had the lone Tamaranean on it. Aung had been on board as well, as a prisoner. Thanagar had been at war with the Gordanians and the Citadel for as long as she could remember.

She was a simple girl, though with an unusual appearance. Unlike the others, her hair and feathers were white as snow, her skin was fair, and her eyes were a bright yellow gold. She was always different to others; her coloration was 'rare' but nothing more than a physical difference. She was young when she first enlisted in the medical corps. She graduated with top marks, and was assigned to a high profile mission soon after.

As far as missions went, it should've been simple. A simple retrieval mission of a derelict ship, the catch, it was lost deep in enemy territory. She was sent with a relatively new unit, their commanding officer was a decorated veteran. The mission went without a hitch at first. They found the ship in an asteroid field and went in to get what they needed. Aung had been curious about what they were actually retrieving…

It turned out to be Nth metal, a lot of Nth metal, more Nth metal than she'd ever seen in one place before.

So it wasn't much of a surprise when the Gordanians attacked them. They were looking to capture all that Nth metal, take it for their own. The resulting conflict was harrowing, the vet and the others with her had the superior tactics, but the Gordanians had come at them with sheer numbers. In the end the vet and the others had decided to make a tactical retreat, leaving bombs to destroy the derelict and everything on it…

On the way out she was captured… no one came to her rescue…

Aung had known that it was a possibility, but she'd thought her 'comrades' would come to get her. They never did. The Gordanians only left her alive and 'unspoiled' because they thought she might have useful tactical information. She didn't of course, she was a medic, a fresh one too, expendable, what would she know of value? She didn't tell them that of course, for fear of what they'd do if she had no use.

Regardless, they stripped her of everything… literally, save her underwear; they then bound her wings, and left her to hang on the wall of one of their cells. She was but one of many prisoners on the ship at the time. The Tamaranean was 'special'. She'd only recently come of age and a high-ranking official of the Citadel was chomping at the bit to claim her as a 'prize'. Aung had never seen the girl, nor vice-versa, just knew she existed.

That was little comfort to a cold, filthy, practically naked Thanagarian once medic hanging on a wall in a Citadel controlled ship. Aung didn't know how long she just hung there, the rare few times she saw anyone was when a Gordanian fed her… it wasn't a pleasant experience. The food was foul and the company even fouler. She plainly didn't want to think about what had been dubbed as 'waste disposal'…

Aung had been half asleep when she heard the screaming roars. She had awoken when the ship suddenly lurched to the side. The Tamaranian girl started screaming obscenities so foul and promising pain so great she could hardly imagine what kind of 'girl' could talk like that. Aung had just hung there listening to it before her cell door was smashed open by a Gordanian body. She blinked and stared down at him as he turned to ash…

Gordanian soldiers were fitted with a self-destruct chip. It was designed to prevent the soldier or officer from being taken captive. Thus it was a security measure, if their soldiers and officers couldn't be taken, then no information of value could be lost. It was why it was so hard to figure out what the Gordanians would do next, they literally had no way to find out their plans…

She shook her head and looked back to the pile of ash that had once been a Gordanian.

She then looked to her restraints, then back to the now open door. Aung was tired, she was hungry, and she was filthy, but she could still fight for her freedom! She placed her feet on the wall and then pulled on her restraints. She had been weak, but somehow she found the strength to yank her bonds from the wall. She then smashed the cuffs on her wings; she gave a cry as she felt one break from the impact.

She ignored that to focus on escape, so dropped down and hurried to the ashes of the Gordanian and started to sift through it with her toes. Eventually she found a key and used it to free her hands. She rubbed at her wrists briefly and then peered out of her cell. The guards were busy trying to recapture the Tamaranian. They would be too busy to notice her make her own escape… but it never hurt to be too careful.

Aung limped her way down the corridor to a large console and started opening up random cells all over the ship. She didn't care what monstrosities she set loose so long as they managed to occupy the Gordanians just a little longer. Once she was finished she hurried to find her things. Getting clean could wait, among her things was medical equipment and she was sure she'd need that after her recent ordeals.

Not to mention her rations, she was starving for something other than the foul slop the Gordanians tried to feed her. She was fairly certain whatever it was; it was almost assuredly toxic to Thanagarians. Aung searched the depths of the ship hoping to find her things and that the Gordanians hadn't simply gotten rid of them. For once luck was on her side as she found her clothes relatively intact in a side room.

She'd felt such relief at that simple discovery, but had then noticed the 'symbol' on her belt and felt burning rage. The emblem was the symbol for the military of her people, the same people that left her to die or worse. While she understood sacrifices had to be made they hadn't made so much as a token attempt to help her. Instead they had basically ran away and left her at the 'mercy' of the Gordanians.

She'd all but torn the symbol off and hurled it to parts unknown. She had also decided she would burn her old uniform at the earliest convenience. While it was probably a silly idea to burn the clothes, it'd at the very least make her feel better. She couldn't harm the ones who left her behind, but she could have a petty bit of satisfaction. She'd then hurried out as the Tamaranian and other aliens couldn't keep the Gordanians busy forever.

Miraculously nothing seemed to notice her, or perhaps it was sheer luck, partially assisted by the mass of other aliens roaming the ship. Some of the Gordanians were preoccupied fighting the aliens, while some were being torn apart limb from bloody limb. She'd seen at least one manage to do so on her way out anyways. She admitted if only to herself a bit of grim pleasure at the sight of the Gordanians grizzly death.

It had only been the fact it might come after her next that kept her from watching more.

She found and commandeered a small ship in the hangar and managed to set a course for the nearest planet. As she did she shot out of the ship and into the cold vacuum of space she saw a green streak shoot from the Gordanian ship. She didn't care. Not at all. Aung Ha'rell was too tired to care about anything, and for the first time in what felt like months she allowed sleep to truly claim her.

Her arrival was not without a hitch of course given her landing was a crash landing. The humans have a saying about any landing you can walk away from, well to be honest she wasn't able to walk away from her's. Kyd Wykkyd, by another stroke of luck had been sent out on a mission for the H.A.E.Y.P. Instead he'd found her and decided she was more important than his mission.

She recalled being half awake when he found her. She recalled seeing his face, it was bright red from a blush at her… err… pitiable state. She recalled the sight of the stars in the sky behind him, and she recalled as he picked her up. Despite his practically noodle thin arms the boy was remarkably strong. Needless to say he carried her back to the H.A.E.Y.P. and abandoned his mission entirely.

The H.I.V.E. Headmistress had been both perturbed by and angry about this decision. In the end she left Aung in Kyd's care, wanting nothing to do with her. Despite what many might think the shadowy-teen had cared for her. In a bit of irony given she was a medic; he'd nursed her back to health. As time went on and her strength slowly returned, Aung admitted she came to care for the boy… which led to the two of them dating.

And the rest, as they say, is history…

[End Flashback…]

00

(Present…)

Aung Ha'rell looked down at her friend worriedly as she finished dressing his wounds. She also turned and narrowed her yellow-gold eyes on Gizmo. She'd told Gizmo his design was going to potentially get the blond killed. In response the Tiny Terror zipped over to hide behind Mammoth who shook his head. As that happened Jinx placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Is Tempest going to be okay?" she questioned worriedly. Aung idly looked at the rosette and then nodded her head.

"Getting the suit off of him has allowed his chakra to settle, it's rejuvenating him as we speak," she replied. Albeit he was now very weak, she could imagine he'd be asleep for quite a while due to this. It was clear that the tiny terror knew very little about what Chakra actually was. _'Just another reason why Gizmo should not be allowed to build things for Tempest,'_ she noted to herself as she stood up.

She of course had thoroughly examined Naruto's chakra and how his body produced it. If she was going to be a 'medic' for him and Kyd she needed to know how their bodies worked. Kyd was a fairly standard human for the most part, with an oddity here or there like his lack of vocal cords. Naruto on the other hand… well she could probably write a book about how different he was compared to a human.

She shook such thoughts from her head and glanced around for a moment and then clicked her tongue and idly nodded her head. Brother Blood was preoccupied with some kind of ocean base last she and Kyd had checked. That in mind, it was likely he wasn't watching Naruto anymore and he could finally ditch this place. His only reason for staying in such a rat hole had been because Blood watched him like a hawk.

It had mostly been to divert attention away from what Kyd and Aung were up too as Blood had been so focused on Naruto he hadn't really noticed when they had vanished from his newest school entirely. Aung and Kyd had, as such, been allowed to put the base that Naruto had secured for their use back together. The blond planned to live their too of course, but not until Blood stopped watching him…

It seemed to her that the time was finally right.

"Kyd," she stated suddenly. The shadowy teen stood and looked to her curiously, "He's safe to move, we're taking him to the base to recuperate," she stated. Kyd nodded his head and the two of them picked the blond up by his ankles and shoulders. However before they could leave Jinx decided to voice her displeasure.

"Wait, hold on, what are you talking about?" Jinx demanded. Aung glanced at her and then sighed.

"We're taking him to our base," she stated bluntly. Jinx's brow twitched and she narrowed her eye on the winged girl dangerously. She was so not letting these two take her friend to who knew where without her!

"You're not taking Tempest anywhere without us!" Jinx declared firmly. Both Gizmo and Mammoth stared at the rosette strangely. They then glanced at one another with Gizmo scowling and Mammoth scratching his head in confusion.

"Wait, when the fuck did we volunteer for this?" the tiny terror demanded. However at a fierce look from Jinx, the tiny terror was suddenly all smiles. "I mean yeah! We're totally not letting you take Temp without us!" he declared with a nervous grin. Mammoth just palmed his face with a shake of his head. Kyd arched a brow and glanced at Angel. She sighed and then nodded her head.

With that, Kyd whipped his cape around the lot and they vanished in a swirl of black…

00

[Flashback…]

Aung Ha'rell was now better known, as simply 'Angel' in the H.A.E.Y.P. She'd been a 'member' since the day Kyd brought her in. In that time she'd made no waves, kept herself dead-middle in the school-wide scores, and had openly expressed disinterest in everything the faculty tried to teach them. The only exception to the rule was in mad-science class, and when she had volunteered for the Medical-Courses.

Aside from that she was Kyd Wykkyd's 'Girlfriend'… although apparently some people didn't know that…

"It's not fucking funny jackass!" Gizmo snarled furiously. Naruto and Mammoth were leaning against one another, nearly crying from laughter. Aung mutely rolled her eyes; she sat beside of Kyd with a frown. The shadowy-teen in question glanced at her curiously and she smiled pleasantly and leaned her head against his shoulder. As she did she held up her data-pad, which was plugged into the exo-frame of the X-suit…

"It's kind of funny," Mammoth remarked. Naruto just continued to laugh and pound on the floor. Aung rolled her eyes at the childish display. She was not someone who enjoyed watching people act like idiots. She liked Naruto though, he was a warrior and they had had a few discussions about the differences between their cultures. They were surprisingly similar, although Thanagarians were much 'harsher' than his own people.

"Fuck you and everything you love!" Gizmo snarled at the man mountain. Aung briefly glanced at the tiny terror then rolled her eyes… again. Apparently by some bazaar twist of fate Gizmo hadn't realized she and Kyd were together. How that was possible when they were almost always holding hands or kissing was beyond her. Sure they didn't 'make out' as openly as other couples did but…

"How did you not know that they were together?" Naruto questioned once he finally calmed down. Aung was happy to note that the blond had officially gotten English down pat. He wasn't fluent quite yet, but at least people could understand the gist of what he was trying to tell them now. It was certainly better than the short sentences Jinx got him to use for so long.

"I thought they were relatives or something!" the tiny terror replied. Aung arched a brow and glanced at Kyd. The shadowy teen snickered to himself while the winged girl shook her head derisively. It was clear to her that Gizmo hadn't paid all that much attention to her, aside from her looks. It wasn't even the first time someone had ignored the fact she was with Kyd to hit on her…

"Dude no siblings hold hands that much," Mammoth remarked bluntly. Aung felt that given he was a sibling; he'd be the authority on that. Aung had no siblings, only her parents and her father hadn't been the nicest fellow. Especially because he'd always hated how she'd joined the medical corps. She'd never really understood why that was, still didn't actually, and genuinely didn't care by this point.

"Shut up!" Gizmo snarled at his large friend. Aung rolled her eyes and sat up. Kyd was momentarily displeased until she kissed his cheek. He was suddenly all smiles and Aung smirked to herself. She practically had the boy wrapped around her little finger, though he did have a similar effect on her as well. She cleared her throat to draw the attention of the other boys and they turned to her as she held up her data-pad.

"I've made an assessment of your… suit," she paused to glance at the Exoskeletal frame for the X-suit once more. It was made of an extremely thin malleable material that was meant to give whoever wore it great mobility at the cost of durability. Aung personally disliked the design; it was too generic in her opinion, but that wasn't the point. "I've located numerous bugs in the OS and have to question the ludicrous power requirements," she remarked.

Gizmo snorted and smirked.

"Blame Robin for that, it's his design and his OS," the tiny terror remarked. Aung hummed at that and inclined her head. She wasn't a fan of the 'Teen Titans' she had nothing against Starfire and personally respected her. If for no other reason then for her being the direct cause for her escape from the Gordanians. The others however, she had zero respect for. Most of them were quite literally children in her eyes.

It was a sentiment shared by Naruto, another reason she liked him.

"Aside from that I've found that the armor is too weak, the circuitry needs a cut off on the off chance it's severed, and the weapon systems still need further refining," she remarked with a hum. Gizmo grunted in response and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's just a prototype!" he grumbled. Aung frowned in response and narrowed her eyes on the tiny terror. She was acutely aware that Naruto would be the one wearing and testing the suit. Second to Kyd, out of everyone in the H.A.E.Y.P. she liked him the most. There weren't that many students at the school who could genuinely say that they knew what war was like, she was one, he was the other.

"The design needs to be reworked," she stated bluntly, Gizmo scoffed.

"It'll take me too long and I've still got to help work on the class project," the tiny terror replied with a wave of his hand. Aung scowled but didn't comment further as Naruto glanced at his bald 'friend' curiously. Aung was of the opinion that Naruto was too friendly with the little gnome. This was because she was certain that Gizmo would have no qualms if the blond ceased beyond the loss of a guinea pig.

"What about dance?" Naruto questioned. Mammoth looked over curiously as well.

"Yeah, you gonna ask someone else?" the man mountain questioned. Gizmo grunted in response, eyes narrowed on his friends.

"Like who?" he demanded angrily, "Last time I checked all the girls already had dates!" he all but roared. Naruto however hummed and tapped his chin in thought. Meanwhile Aung went over her mental list. Jinx was going with that 'Stone' fellow. Leviathan was of course going with Mammoth. She and Kyd were most assuredly going together. She believed that Shimmer had asked Naruto to escort her…

Somehow Mammoth hadn't ripped the blond in half for that…

However she did know a few female students that were still free for one reason or another. The first was Bumblebee, who'd basically hidden whenever someone tried to ask her out. Second was Chitin, the odd girl who was in the stealth courses yet tended to sleep in class due to binge gaming. Then came Sickle, one half of the Russian exchange students. And finally was Tuppence Terror, one half of the 'Terror-Twins'.

"Bumblebee's free," Mammoth remarked. Aung knew that Bumblebee was simply not interested in dating. She was also a very likely candidate for being a spy. This was due to the fact she was a 'teachers pet' and paid special attention to any 'plans' that the class made. Most of said plans tended to end in failure. Aung didn't care, nor did she tell anyone of her suspicions, she didn't like the H.A.E.Y.P., she'd much rather run off with Kyd if she were honest but they had nowhere else to go…

"Fuck that, she's hot but she's also a teachers pet and Jinx's rival!" Gizmo grumbled. Aung hummed and then nodded her head.

"Sickle," she suggested. The suggestion got looks from both Gizmo and Mammoth, while Naruto scratched his head.

"Sickle?" the blond questioned in confusion. Mammoth narrowed his eyes.

"One of the ruskies," he responded, "the one with a brother who has a huge fucking hammer," he noted. Aung arched a brow then nodded. "One half of the Terror-Twins rivals," he noted. Again she nodded her head. Mammoth then crossed his arms with a scowl, "The bitch who tried to seduce Giz just to jack his tech for 'Mother Rusia'," he responded bluntly. Aung blinked at that and hummed.

Well the animosity made more sense now…

"I was not aware of this," she admitted. She then glanced back at her datapad and made a waving motion with her free hand as she leaned against Kyd again. "Carry on," she stated and started to sift through data. She was going to fix the OS, if for no other reason then to make a token attempt for Naruto to survive wearing this fucked up suit. If she had the tech and the time and the resources she'd like to give it a full overhaul… but that was unlikely.

"Right…" Mammoth murmured and Naruto grinned.

"Chitin!" he suggested. However Gizmo reared back with a disgusted shiver.

"The slug girl!?" he demanded. Naruto's eye twitched at the name but he nodded. "First, fuck no, second, hell no, third, what the fuck are you thinking?!" the tiny terror demanded. Naruto frowned and scratched his head in confusion. Aung was equally confused, yes Chitin was strange but that was no reason for the hostility. She also admitted her powers were… well they weren't that useful to be honest.

Being able to grow armor was useful, but Chitin's armor had to adhere to conservation of mass, IE, she couldn't simply create the stuff without having the 'ingredients' stockpiled inside her body. She got said ingredients by eating, this caused her armor to burn through calories as she created it, and additionally her metabolism was supercharged. This meant she never gained a pound despite her colossal intake but also had next to no stamina.

Aung shook her head of such thoughts and glanced back at the others curiously.

"Giz chill," Mammoth ordered. He looked just as confused by Gizmo's behavior as the rest of them felt. "What's with the hostility?" the man mountain questioned. Gizmo crossed his arms and then started to mutter to himself. "What was that?" Mammoth questioned bluntly. Gizmo seemed to shrink and then looked to the side.

"I… I might've gotten a bit grabby with her once," he admitted. The others rolled their eyes in response. They could all believe that. There was a reason that Mammoth didn't trust the tiny terror around his sister.

"And?" Naruto questioned. Gizmo grunted in response.

"She threatened my junk with knives she grew out of her fist," he responded. The boys winced while Aung smirked, genuinely impressed. She hadn't thought the somewhat lazy girl would have it in her to threaten someone like that.

"Yikes," Naruto murmured and Mammoth nodded his head. Neither had thought the girl could be that violent… then again she did willingly go to the H.A.E.Y.P. for a reason so it probably shouldn't of been so surprising. They also had to admit she had to have been accepted to the school for a reason as well… huh… they'd actually kind of forgotten that part with how she acted. Finally Mammoth shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Well that's about all the girls I know of who are dateless," the man mountain admitted. Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Most of them were somewhat aware of Tuppence but not sure if she was going with someone or not. The school rumor mill had talked about the other girls at length. Aung hummed in response and then glanced up from her datapad at Gizmo.

"I need Tempest to temporarily power the suit," she noted. The tiny terror frowned in response.

"Why?" he questioned bluntly. Aung idly glanced back at her datapad with a hum.

"A bit of a hunch," she replied. Gizmo grunted in response and then looked to Naruto himself. The blond boy shrugged and walked over to the suit. Gizmo put his hand into one of the gauntlets.

"Okay do whatever," Gizmo stated flippantly. Naruto smirked then channeled chakra to the arm covered by the gauntlet. As he did Aung looked over the data that appeared on her datapad and clicked her tongue.

"Stop," she ordered. Naruto raised a brow then cut his chakra. Aung watched the readout and then hummed softly. "I thought so," she murmured. Gizmo looked at her curiously.

"What?" he demanded. If there was a problem with his suit then he wanted to know about it dammit! Instead of answering him directly, Aung showed him the readout on her datapad, which in turn caused him to grimace. "Oh well fuck, that's bad," he remarked. Mammoth and Naruto glanced at one another and then turned to Gizmo curiously.

"What's up?" the man mountain questioned. Gizmo growled and crossed his arms.

"The power-cells I rigged up don't work right, Temp can power them but they don't hold a charge," he replied with a frown. Aung nodded her head and then hummed. The batteries the tiny terror used were basic; unfortunately they weren't capable of holding a charge from Chakra. Chakra was an 'organic' energy source that could, in theory, power just about anything. However the type of battery would need to be able to hold a charge.

"Perhaps we could modify the suit to use bio-electric power-cells derived from tempest's cells. Since he naturally generates chakra his cells should, in theory, be able to hold a charge from it if we made a battery from them," she suggested. Gizmo looked at her and sighed with a goofy expression. Aung internally frowned and then glanced at her datapad.

"Uh… will that hurt?" Naruto questioned. Aung and Gizmo both looked at him with deadpan expressions. Aung liked Naruto, but she did admit that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Gizmo sort of liked him, but he also thought he was a fucking idiot…

"No dumbass!" Gizmo snarled. Aung rolled her eyes and then looked at Naruto gently.

"We'll just need a blood sample, which we'll then experiment with to see if we can create a battery capable of holding a charge with your chakra," the thanagarian lass replied. Naruto made an Oh with his mouth and nodded his head. Mammoth then glanced at Gizmo curiously.

"So what about the dance then?" he questioned. Gizmo grunted in response.

"Fuck it! I can't get this shit done and worry about that," he grumbled. Mammoth looked at him with concern for a moment before a thought occurred to him.

"What about Jinx?" he questioned bluntly. Gizmo narrowed his eyes.

"What about the titless wonder?" he grumbled irritably. Mammoth crossed his arms with a frown.

"Giz we both know she isn't acting normal," he stated. Aung idly nodded her head in agreement. Jinx was being too… friendly… with Stone considering their first meeting. She'd been more hostile towards Naruto after he beat their team than she had with Stone. She had also clearly had a crush on Naruto, which had all but vanished once Stone came around… not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Gizmo waved him off and glared at the X-suit.

"Maybe, don't mean I have to give a fuck," he replied. Naruto hummed in response and then tapped the side of his head. "What's that supposed to mean?" the tiny terror demanded and Aung nodded her head.

"I think he's suggesting Blood got into her head," Aung remarked. The boys looked from her to Naruto and then grimaced. They were aware of Blood's 'mind control' power of course. They just hadn't figured out a way to block it yet. Gizmo had been working on it since the Headmistress disappeared but it was slow going. Mammoth narrowed his eyes and then looked at Gizmo sternly.

"Giz, I think you should focus on those neural-block things," he remarked with a frown. He especially wanted some for Shimmer, as well as his girlfriend Leviathan, he wouldn't feel safe for them until they didn't have the possibility of a madman taking over their brains. Baran was a villain, a criminal, a mercenary, but the mind was something sacred, even he knew that!

"Oi I've got enough on my plate without adding more Baran!" Gizmo snarled. Aung hummed in response and then nodded her head.

"I believe I can make something for this," she remarked. All the boys' heads snapped to her and she blinked. "My people have encountered psychic species a few times, not to mention we've had other… incidents… in history with such creatures. We have ways to block them," she explained. Gizmo and Mammoth glanced at one another and then looked at the white winged girl seriously.

"How long?" they asked. Aung hummed and considered.

"With the right equipment, materials, and parts, roughly a week," she replied. Gizmo breathed a sigh and slowly nodded his head.

"Right…" he murmured with a nod, then glanced at Mammoth. The man mountain narrowed his eyes on Gizmo and the tiny terror pointed at her. "Fine, you can use my lab, just get that shit done and fast!" the tiny terror ordered then crossed his arms, "I like my fucking thoughts to be my own," he stated bluntly. Aung glared at him for that and then looked to Kyd. He shrugged his shoulders in response and the white haired girl sighed.

"Very well, I'll need to collect some things first before I start," she admitted as she walked over to Kyd. He waved his cape around them and they reappeared in her room. She idly started to move about the room to collect a few random parts of what she'd need for the neural-blocks. She paused when she found one of the key ingredients, Nth metal, a block roughly twice the size and diameter of her fist.

The ball of Nth metal had been on the Gordanian ship. They had likely taken it before her former comrades destroyed the rest alongside the ship it'd been on. Aung had no love for her former people anymore, but she hated the Gordanians more than she did them. So of course she'd taken the ball with her when she escaped. Now it gathered dust in her room for the most part, though she had a few ideas for it…

00

(Night of the dance…)

It seemed like hardly any time had passed since then. Gizmo had started to work on the X-suit with gusto, going well beyond the call of duty. Aung had decided to assist him with whatever she was able, if for no other reason then so Gizmo didn't blow up Naruto with his asinine ideas. While she was only trained as a medic she was Thanagarian, and the base level of tech for her people was well beyond the human norm.

She'd also been vital to preparing the nueral-blocks that they all now wore. Aung was not someone who wanted to chance Brother Blood sifting through her mind. She had secrets of her own after all, like that last chunk of Nth metal she was still trying to find something to use it on. It wasn't like she needed it after all; she already had a shield made of the stuff.

' _I could use it on Tempests suit, that would make that 'Raven' girl's powers useless,'_ she noted to herself. The properties of Nth Metal against magic would certainly be a boon against magical heroes. Against warriors like Wonder Woman or even aliens like Superman though he would still be lacking, but at least Doctor Fate couldn't hurt him if she used it for armor. _'But that takes time,'_ she admitted to herself with a frown.

Time was a factor none of them really had, Blood was always watching after all.

But now was not a time for such thoughts, no, today was the day of the 'dance'. Aung could admit to herself she was somewhat excited for it. The number of times she got to go out on actual dates with Kyd was exceedingly rare. Part of it was just the way they looked; her wings and Kid's eyes were a bit obvious. Yet tonight she got to be out with her favorite boy, and she got to enjoy herself for once.

Aung was dressed in a slim white dress; her snow-white hair was pulled into a high ponytail while her bangs hung at the right side of her face. She had applied light amounts of makeup and wore silver bracelets and white high-heeled shoes. She idly looked herself over in the body-length mirror in Naruto's room. The blond had graciously allowed her to borrow his room, and mirror, so that she could get ready for the dance.

Meanwhile Mammoth had already gone to collect Shimmer and Leviathan. From what she could see Naruto had dressed up in a tuxedo, but only on threats of pain eternal from Mammoth… granted though, Mammoth couldn't take him in a straight fight, so Aung believed Naruto just did it to shut him up. Kyd on the other hand had decided to go with a red tie around his neck, which she thought was cute.

She idly smoothed out her dress in the mirror and noticed something odd. By the mirror, technically behind it, was a backpack. She glanced at the door to the room and then knelt down by the backpack. Within she found a mess of bombs, bombs jury-rigged with timers of some sort, which caused her to frown. Aside from the bombs was a set of blueprints, which she idly pulled out.

She unrolled the blueprints and hummed when she saw that they were for the school itself. She raised a hand and cupped her chin as she looked over several marked areas on the map with interest. Her golden eyes scanned the plans deliberately. She internally noted that the bombs couldn't destroy the school if placed at the positions on the blueprints. Instead they might… wait…

' _He plans on stealing the entire school,'_ Aung realized and then blinked in surprise. That made far too much sense not to be the case. The areas Naruto had planned to put the bombs would make for several worrying explosions, cause a few minor tremors, but the structural integrity of the school wouldn't be compromised. It might collapse a couple rooms and hallways, but those could easily be dug back out if needed.

"Hey Angel, you coming or what?" Naruto called. Aung briefly glanced at the door and then back to the blueprints. Aung had long wanted to leave the H.A.E.Y.P., but with nowhere to go that was a futile endeavor. She had no family, no past, no money, nothing to link her to earth. Kyd didn't have those problems, but he did have the unfortunate skin tone he did which stood out like a sore thumb…

But if Naruto stole the school, they wouldn't need to go anywhere to get away from the H.I.V.E…

"Tempest, I'd like a word with you and Kyd," she replied. She idly hummed as she made a few notes of other positions that'd make for a decent blast zone without damaging anything of use. She heard a grumble and then waited. When the boys entered she held out the blueprints and watched Naruto's eyes shift from side to side.

"I can totally explain that," he began and Aung smirked.

"You plan to steal the school," she stated bluntly. Kyd blinked for a moment then looked at Naruto in shocked awe. Naruto himself grunted and crossed his arms petulantly.

"Prove it," he growled. Aung rolled her eyes.

"The bombs positions are wrong if you want to blow the school up," she replied bluntly. Naruto winced while Aung held open the blueprints. "In any case I made some modifications to get the most out of your limited number of bombs. The new layout will allow for maximum coverage and decrease the likelihood of anyone realizing what you're actually doing," the girl noted. Naruto blinked and then frowned deeply.

"You're helping me?" he questioned. Aung glanced at him with a bemused expression.

"I only stay here because I have nowhere else to go," she remarked and opened one of her white wings. "These don't exactly scream 'Human'," she remarked with a smirk. Naruto inclined his head in understanding. The Thanagarian then noticed how Kyd's face fell a bit and smiled gently. "I also refuse to leave Kyd behind," she added and saw Kyd perk up in response, a smile on his face. Naruto snorted and grinned.

"You two are still adorable!" he declared with a laugh. Aung blushed and fixed the blond with an annoyed glare. However he ignored her and wiped a mock tear from his eye. That done he focused on the Thanagarian Medic and Shadowy-Teen. "So I'mma guess you want to hang here after I get rid of everyone," Naruto remarked then crossed his arms, "but the question is why should I let you?" he questioned with a rub of his chin.

Aung rolled her eyes in response.

"We could tell the headmaster what your doing," she deadpanned with a finger raised, "I'm a medic, you need one," she added with another finger, "Kyd is a more reliable teleporter than Gizmo's suit," she added with yet another finger, "Someone needs to make sure all the students leave," she added with yet another finger, "I doubt you'd like to clean this place after you detonate all the bombs," she continued and Naruto raised his wrists and sighed dramatically.

"Alright alright that's enough, I get it already," he called out and rubbed his head. "Jeez, twist my arm why don't you," he grumbled under his breath. The blond haired ex-shinobi then approached Aung and looked at the modified blueprints with a frown. He turned them around a few times then focused on Aung with squinted eyes. "You and Kyd won't mind that I'm going to lay low after this right?" he questioned.

Aung raised a brow and then shook her head. She hadn't been aware of that part of his plan but it did make sense. She'd thought what he was doing with the demolitions class was more than a bit suspicious, so it stood to reason that someone else might as well. That someone would likely be the Headmaster, especially since he couldn't seem to get into Naruto's head for some reason.

"Good to know, I can't clear this place and I don't want to tip off Blood that this place 'll still be standing," Naruto remarked with a frown. All three paused when they hears a knock and the blond chuckled lightly. "That's probably Mammoth with the girls," he noted and then made a t shaped seal with his hands. _**"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_ he stated and in a plume of smoke a second Naruto appeared.

"Useful," Aung remarked bluntly. She'd seen a similar ability from Billy Numerous; unfortunately the Texan had the intelligence of a gnat. He was occasionally crafty but never when they could really use his help. Naruto didn't seem to care as he spoke with the clone at length; he did so in Japanese which Aung felt was cheating.

"Right then, I'll get it done boss!" the clone stated and grabbed the blueprints. It then collected the bombs and hopped into a vent at the back of the room. Once the clone was gone Naruto readjusted his tie with a smirk on his face.

"Well then, with that set how about we head to the dance," he suggested. Aung smirked and then nodded her head. She walked over to Kyd then gave him a kiss on his cheek; the shadowy-teen swooned with a sigh. Naruto snickered and muttered another 'adorable' as the three of them went to meet with Mammoth and the others…

00

(Later…)

The school was empty. Most of the students had been given assignments by Brother Blood that took them from the school. Those few stragglers that remained wandered the halls. Brother Blood had said he sent the other students away for their final exams, but Naruto thought differently. Especially since the Troika and Stone were still around, not to mention that he had the other stragglers patrolling the halls.

' _He's expecting something to go down today,'_ the blond mused to himself. He was now dressed in his X-suit, which Gizmo had finished a day earlier, and had cleared out his dorm room. He was perched on the ceiling of training room six. He was upside down and had his eyes trained on those down below intently. The Troika, Gizmo Mammoth and Jinx, stood behind Brother Blood who had 'Stone' at his side.

Naruto idly clicked his tongue as he watched them.

With the Neural blocks on himself, Gizmo, Mammoth, Angel, and Kyd they had decided to free Jinx as well. Naruto had snuck into the training room for that purpose only and Giz and Mammoth were both aware of that fact. What they didn't know was that Naruto had Kyd and Angel ready to 'evacuate' the remaining stragglers when he set off his bombs around the school.

Once everyone was out and believed the place had collapsed, Angel and Kyd would return with his shadow powers and start to clear away the debris so they could use the place for their own purposes. Naruto however would keep away as Blood would likely notice something was amiss. It was unknown of Blood would believe the school collapsed due to structural damage, or if he'd actually believe it was foul play, but it never hurt to be careful.

For now, he intently watched what happened down below.

Then his eyes darted away as The Teen Titans showed up. Starfire, the cute redhead, Raven, the dark bird, Beast Boy, the mouthy shape shifter, Cyborg, the titanium-plated titan, and of course Robin, the 'leader' of the group. _'Oooh looks like the kiddies are all here,'_ he thought with an amused grin. He'd seen the Titans in recordings of course, but he'd never seen any of them in person.

' _Huh… somehow recordings don't due the cutie justice,'_ he thought to himself as he admired the green-eyed redhead. He then noticed something was off about the 'Cyborg' with the Titans. When they and the Troika, with Stone, began to fight he knew that something was very wrong. Not only was Cyborg completely useless in this fight he was acting out of character screaming 'Booyah!' every other second.

Naruto watched and he waited until he noticed the fake-cyborg create a dust cloud. With cover now available he lunged from his perch towards Jinx. While he was going to be leaving soon, he wanted to at least leave with Jinx in her right mind. He dropped down behind the girl and ducked beneath a punch from the girl and slipped behind her. He then pressed the neural block to the back of her neck and activated it.

Jinx gasped and stumbled forward then shook her head with a groan.

"W-what?" she questioned as she opened her eyes. "Where am I?" she questioned with a confused expression across her face. Her eyes briefly flashed from red to pink then settled in their usual color while Naruto chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"Glad to have you back, ol Blood decided to poke around in your skull for a while," he explained to the girl, then glanced to the side as 'Cyborg' was revealed to be a robot and 'Stone' revealed to be Cyborg. _'Honestly not too surprised by that,'_ Naruto admitted to himself with a frown. As he did Jinx placed a hand to the side of her head and shook the cobwebs free.

"What have… what have I been doing?" she questioned. She then blushed and palmed her face with a groan. "Oh god I was acting like a lovesick schoolgirl," she muttered to herself. Naruto idly nodded his head in agreement, and then glanced around as the dust began to dissipate. _'It's time to book,'_ he decided. With that he pressed his belt buckle. He reappeared elsewhere in the room behind cover and watched the show.

He watched as Cyborg was exposed as a spy, as Blood admitted he knew, revealed their 'Class Project' then gave it to Cyborg to use against the other Titans. He then watched as Cyborg proceeded to let out a loud 'Cyke' and shot a blast up towards the roof. As he did Naruto pulled out a remote detonator and pressed down on the trigger. Instantly his bombs around the school began to explode.

The masked blond knew he could count on Kyd and Angel for the rest. While they weren't exactly the best students in the H.A.E.Y.P. they always got the job done. Angel was strict and no nonsense, she'd certainly keep a slacker like Kyd in line. It didn't matter anyways as Blood and the Titans escaped from the collapsing school. As they did the masked blond escaped as well…

' _Mission Complete,'_ he thought as he vanished in a static flash…

[End Flashback…]

00

There is good, and there is evil, but the line between them can be almost impossible to find.

00

Although he'd told his friends they needed to rest. The boy wonder himself had not gone to sleep. Instead he'd journeyed back into the city and started to search. He'd eventually found a blood trail that led him into the sewers. He followed it for a while but ultimately scowled, as all he found was a large pool of dried blood in the sewers. He'd swiftly searched but had found no other clues to who it had been or where they went…

00

Does one good deed make him a hero?

00

Robin returned home with a scowl and marched to the evidence room. He narrowed his eyes as he laid them upon the original X-suit. It lay upon a table, blank lenses staring at him silently. He sucked a breath in through his teeth and collected the suit. He then approached a familiar safe and put it away. He then stowed the belt away in a separate compartment and locked it away as well…

00

Am I to blame for all of it because of a single mistake?

00

Robin eventually left the evidence room and climbed up through the tower to the roof. It was too early to sleep, the sun was just starting to rise on the horizon and so the boy wonder went out to greet it. He stood at the edge of the tower and looked across the sea to the rising sun. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as the warmth of its golden rays enveloped him…

00

In the end, all I really know is that the answers don't come easy.

00

The boy wonder, after some time in the sun, finally started back inside. He traveled down passed the Ops Center as the rest of his team finally started to wake up. The dark haired teen eventually entered his room and all but slumped onto his bed. He paused for a moment and then reached into his bedside drawer. He pulled out a book with several phone numbers and his cell phone, then narrowed his eyes on two names in particular…

00

It's supposed to be simple, but its not…

00

(Jump-City, California…)

A white car moves through Jump City. At the wheel is an elderly gentleman with balding black hair and a pristine white suit with a black button down shirt and white tie. The gentleman silently maneuvers the vehicle through the city, till he pulls towards an old 'hole in the ground' in a literal sense. He parks the car and silently exits and walks around to the other side where he opens the car door.

He holds out a hand, which is then grabbed by a slender hand. Out of the car stepped a girl; her hair is long and silvery white in color. Her skin is pale and flawless, while she wears a simple blue t-shirt with a skull on the front, a black leather jacket, black leather boots, and blue jean skirt. She bears a strong physique from extensive training with the barest hints of abs visible against the slip of stomach visible between her shirt and skirt.

She silently looks out across the place, a single cold blue-grey eye regarding it all.

"So this is the place then," the girl remarked. The gentleman gave a silent nod while the girl marched forward, hands in the pockets of her jacket. She marches into the depths of the hole in the ground followed by the old gentleman. She slides only once but easily regains her footing. The gentleman offers a hand but she narrowed her eye and continued down into the cave without his aide.

As she entered into the cave proper, she noticed what appeared to be a statue of a girl. Her arms were stretched at her sides and she was dressed in an odd kind of armor with semi-visible bandages here and there. The white haired girl mutely sneered towards the stone girl and then schooled her features once more. She moved silently through the cave and down towards the floor below.

She paused at a chasm and arched a slender brow.

' _Simple enough,'_ she decided as she hopped forward. She dropped a good ten to fifteen feet then landed solidly on her feet without any repercussions. Her gentleman companion however remained above as she continued ever onwards. She glanced here and there for a moment before she came to a stop at a sudden sound. She glanced down to see her boot had connected with something metal.

She knelt down and idly brushed some dirt away to see the signs of copper. With her eye now narrowed the girl reared an arm back and then slammed it into the ground. The ground cracked before she reared her arm back once more and slammed it into the ground yet again. She rubbed her fist briefly then looked to the dirt and cracked stone. Beneath it was revealed a familiar half copper mask.

The girl gently pulled the mask free and lightly brushed its surface free of dirt. She fixed her one eyed gaze onto the one eyed mask then stood up. She turned on her heel and made her way back to where she'd entered the trench. She noticed a rope waiting for her and swiftly started to climb back up to meet with her gentleman companion. The man looked at her with a raised brow as she lifted the half-copper mask.

"Seems father underestimated them after all," she remarked coldly. She then flipped the mask in her hand to glance at its empty gaze. She then turned her eye from the mask to the old gentleman instead. "Do the Titans still have father's 'bugged' mask in their possession?" she questioned. The man nodded his head.

"Indeed ma'am as per your father's instructions," the old man replied crisply. "It is also equipped with a highly potent fear toxin," the man admitted. The girl hummed in reply while she also poked the single eyehole of the mask in her hand.

"I see," she murmured, then glanced at him, "Care to set a proximity trigger so we can remotely activate it?" she questioned. The man bowed at the waist and nodded his head.

"It would be my honor," he replied. The girl hummed in response and then glanced back at the mask with a smirk.

"Didn't see death coming, did you old man," she taunted the mask and then brushed her white hair from her left eye. As she did she revealed a snow-white eye patch where her eye should've been, the edges of a nasty scar still visible beneath it. As she did she made her way back out of the cave and to her limo, the older gentleman ever at her side. As they approached the limo the older gentleman glanced at her.

"So what is to be done in the meantime mistress Rose?" the gentleman questioned. The now named 'Rose' hummed briefly and tapped her chin. She then slipped back into the back of the limo as a smirk crossed her lips.

"Next, Wintergreen," she began, then narrowed her gold blue-grey eye, "The Titans have defeated my father," she remarked and then smirked as only her single eye became visible in the darkness, "So now it's my turn to play," she whispered in a cold calculative tone… just like her father.

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN** :

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STATIC…

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A familiar girl appears once more. This time she has slicked back deep crimson hair, a monocle clipped to her left ear, a black choker collar, a white suit-jacket buttoned up as a shirt with seemingly nothing else, a by now familiar brown backpack, white kid gloves, a black miniskirt, fishnet stockings, and black high-heeled boots. She's seated on her desk, and with a number of plans and documents scattered across its surface.

"'Ello, I'm the doctor," the girl stated with a slight British accent then paused. "Whoops, that is definitely not me," she noted aloud, still with the same accent as before. She then re-crossed her legs, as she got comfortable. "Now 'en you lot, I'm Duela The Penguin's Daughter!" she declared with her arms outstretched. She then smirked as she idly adjusted her monocle, her other eye closed.

"I'm sure you're all thinking 'at's crazy, but recall 'at Dad used to hang 'round a couple a bimbos back in the day, least in de Arkham Games," she noted and leaned back with a frown. "Bloody hell, 'en ya got de one from Batman TAS who had a bleeding nightclub filled wit 'em, an 'en at one from The Batman who had a pair of ninja hench wenches," the redhead noted mostly to herself, a finger pressed to her chin.

She then shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms in her lap. "Well anyways, 'ats not why I'm 'ere now is it?" the currently cockney girl remarked. She then leaned forward with a smirk. "First of all my lovelies, the author wanted me to tell ya all 'at he's sorry it took 'em so long to get 'is chapter out for ya," she stated. She then idly removed her monocle and then cleaned it on her jacket.

"Now I went an' tol' the git he didn't need ta go ta de trouble, but does 'e listen to me? Nooo," she remarked with a roll of her eyes. She replaced her monocle and then stretched her arms over her head. "Any case, 'e also wanted me to say 'at we'll be going back ta de future timeline after 'is fer a little while, 'en finally move on ta me asylum!" the crimson haired girl remarked, then grinned widely.

"Anyways," she began and reached to the side. She took hold of an umbrella with a penguin head for the handle and then leaned forward. She landed on her feet and leaned onto the umbrella like a cane. She then reached a hand up to brush her hair back and then flipped her umbrella up and leaned it against her shoulder. "Now its time for de Q and A portion of our chapter!" she declared with a hand outstretched to the side.

"First of all, **Cerulean Knight** , no he can't, de intangibility of ghosts is part of deir biology. Naruto can teach Dani techniques because de way dey use energy is similar enough fer it," the redhead stated as she twirled her umbrella at her side then hummed and tapped her cheek. "De force of his clone's explosion depends on the amount of chakra he uses," she noted and clicked her tongue.

"Ta be honest it's near impossible ta measure de full force of de explosion Naruto creates with a Bunshin Daibakuha. De reason for 'is is 'at each Shadow-Clone is made up of 'alf 'is chakra when first formed. Each Daibakuha is stronger or weaker based on 'ow much chakra is in it at any given time. As such I can't really measure, at its strongest it'd be powered by the Six-Paths-Sage-Mode combined with Kurama's chakra," the girl noted.

She paused to imagine what an explosion from a clone like that would be like…

She twitched and then shuddered. "While at it's absolute weakest it'd be equivalent to a bit of TNT. At the absolute strongest, it'd basically be like someone went and dropped Tsar Bomba if he ever really did it," she stated worriedly. She also made a note to prevent that from happening by any means necessary. She did not want to have to explain why they had a massive crater where Jump City used to be…

"Next!" she stated swiftly. " **DarkLord98** as I told Cerulean Knight, intangibility is a biological function of ghosts. Dey 'ave a natural ability to do so, as well as fly, turn invisible, and overshadow people. Tobi 'ad de ability ta turn intangible due to 'is 'pocket dimension' but dat isn't de same as actually turning intangible like a ghost, who 'ave no bloody limit on it," the redhead explained.

"Bijuu aren't actually 'at similar. A Bijuu is a complex construct made up entirely of chakra, and purposefully animated and given sentience by de Six Paths Sage. Most ghosts are a combination of pure Ectoplasm given life by de obsessions of certain people carrying on even after deir deaths while others are concepts so widely believed in dat dey are given life after dey are somehow exposed ta ectoplasm," the girl explained as she idly rubbed her monocle on her jacket and then put it back in her eye.

" **Hootyman** ," Duela paused and snorted then giggled into her hand, "If ye say so mate, 'ough de author wanted me ta warn ye, dat my next appearance," Duela paused and then frowned as a worried frown crossed her lips. "Might not be funny, or patient, or nice, or entirely… sane," she noted and looked around worriedly. "I'm not sure if I'm exactly comfortable wit' what I'm 'earing 'ere," she mumbled worriedly then cleared her throat.

"Actually **VampireJaws** , 'is section is completely unique to 'is version of de story, but de author did 'ave an incident in de original story where Naruto started singing at Robin's birthday," the redhead explained then tapped her chin, "Although I don't think de author 'ad 'im sing 'When your evil' 'ough," the girl noted and then shrugged her shoulders. "Moving on," she noted as she pulled her phone out and looked at it.

" **Gawain-Knight of the Sun** ," she began, "e's considerin' a rewrite for it 'at'd take place during Big Boss's time instead of Solid Snake's," the redhead replied then glanced at her phone with a hum. "Oh, you meant one a dem **DocSlendy** ," she murmured and glanced at a box to the side that was shaking. "Dat explains de package I got," she murmured and then opened the box as a baby Ursa climbed out and into her arms…

"Aww!" she declared and nuzzled the Ursa's head with her cheek. "Thanks mate!" she chirped and then carried the baby Ursa off screen. A few minutes pass before the redhead walked back out, her umbrella twirling around on her right hand. She paused when she was back in front of the camera and grinned widely. " **TotallyNotAxco** …" she paused and then narrowed her eyes.

"Seriously mate, don' try an' get me in some ones suit like dat," she stated with a shake of her head. "I have me own ways of doing dat for meself," the girl noted with a nod of her head and then glanced at the rest of the review. "We'll log de missions 'en, but ye might want to describe who it is we're going ta be dealin' with," the redhead noted with a slow nod of her head.

" **DannyPhantom619** , yes dere'll be a small arc in Amity, we'll also have ghosts like Masquerade show up to give Naruto a work out until he actually gets some Ghost Gloves an' a Specter-Deflector," the redhead noted and then brushed a hand through her deep crimson hair. " **carl9390** , aside from Road to Ninja, mission in de land of snow and de Movie with Demon Country he doesn't really consider 'em cannon," the girl explained.

" **Noir117** , de only real limit ye need ta consider fer any missions ya submit ta me is not trying to make something 'at'd affect de main plot or progression of de story. Part of 'at means please don' put in any big name 'eroes or villains in ya mission. Also, please don't put in any tech 'at de team might try ta take for 'emselves," the redhead explained. She then flicked the screen of her phone to the next review.

" **Devilscreed** , we alredy 'ave one in Willow, AKA Chitin, and Masquerade will show back up, as will Two-Bit, dough we're not sure when. We're not sure if anymore of 'em will show up or not, an' we're fine if ye make links ta videogame characters, de author finds it kind of funny ta see 'ow similar de are ta what 'e made," the redheaded girl replied as she buffed her knuckles on her jacket.

" **D N Walker** , no problem mate, as for de Billy thing it all depends on what ye reviewers want, if all of ya want ta see Billy an' Mandy tagether, we'll 'ave her show up at some point. We jus' don' want ta put something in 'ere dat'd be too silly, but we 'ave had a few requests for it. But like I said, ya reviewers all jus' 'ave ta ask an' de author will consider it," the redhead replied and moved on.

"Well **Soulbow109** the reason for dat is cause he got most of it out of 'is system in de first story, where he did make him kind of stupid an' insane," the girl noted then hummed to herself, "Not really, deir bodies are made of ectoplasm, not to mention dey aren't actual souls, so spiritual stuff don't really effect 'em like ye might think," the redhead replied and then hummed softly and tapped her chin.

" **Vongola Ninja** , part of de purpose of dis story was ta change de way de author went about de first version. He felt dat he made it a bit too dramatic. We can also assure ya dat de team 'll be different 'is time roun', an' dat Hinata 'll not make an appearance, de author is of de opinion dat she and Naruto are literally done to death," the girl stated with a nod. "As for any other pairings, d'oughs 'll come in time," she stated with a nod of her head.

"Well **Narutofan8762** , you'll jus' 'ave ta wait an' see," the girl stated cheekily then moved to the next review, "As I said before, we'll move back to the future with de next few chapters **Snipa** , as for Sasuke's team, wait an' see," the girl continued. "'Ello again **OBSERVER01**! An' of course I plan ta troll de titans! Not sure when, but I will!" the girl declared with a grin.

"Actually **Nightmaster000** , de author intends for Tartarus to leave Jump City and become more well known. As you saw in de future, Tartarus eventually becomes a company dats well known 'round de world," she replied and flicked her phone. "Yes **Cant Catch This** , yes it was, cause de Author loves 'at game," she replied with a bright smile, then flicked her phone again.

"Well **Kid Coheed** , as stated in dis chapter Kakashi didn't rightly trust Sasuke to go out tracking Naruto on his own with his team," the girl remarked and then frowned, "an' if ye tink about it, dat really makes sense, Sasuke has almost killed Naruto in every fight dey've been in," she noted then shrugged, "Plus if Karin 'ad been around dey could've found Naruto in literally five seconds," she noted with a giggle.

"Aw it's no problem **Toa Naruto** , I like talking to ya blokes!" the redhead declared with a wide smile. "Oh I won' spoil it, but dye'll be seein' quite a few of the YJ cast showing up in de next six or so chapters," the girl replied with a grin then moved on and looked at her phone with a bemused expression. She slowly shook her head and then sat back down on her desk.

"I hafta agree with ya on Sasuke, de author used ta like 'im before he became a total twat after de timeskip. And ta answer ye question **Serf** , all me clothes an' other outfits are custom made by me," the girl stated with a thumb pointed to her chest. She then grinned as she leaned towards the camera with a twinkle in her eye. "I've gotten really good at making 'em if I do say so meself!" she declared happily then moved on.

"Yeah **LL** , lots of stuff got glossed over fer some reason. Not gonna lie, it felt kind of annoying," she admitted with a shake of her head. "Regardless, Naruto in dis story is more based on the 'Naruto' from the 'Naruto: Ultimate Ninja' games in dat he learned a lot of random jutsu from people 'round de village. Why? Cause de author liked dose games an' de fillers in 'em," she noted then grinned cheekily.

"In one a dem Naruto became 'Hokage for a day' an' Tsunade went to de spa while our favorite blond was stuck with paperwork. Part of why he doesn't want to be Hokage is cause a dat," she stated with a snicker, "Plus in de fourth game Naruto killed a wolf demon and saved another village, it's mentioned by Sasuke as the place Naruto went too when he wanted to get away," the girl explained then glanced at her phone and snorted.

She then started to snicker and smiled widely.

"Ah **PugTheMagician** , nice ta see ya 'gain luv! Though Catwoman isn't me mum, I can say that for certain. Also I can imagine any kind of mission with gamer-gear involved might end up with only Dani and Gizmo goin' solo as Naruto 'as no interest in Videogames. He does like ta watch DBZ Abridged though… take from 'at what ya will. Also why would I need ta play a videogame with cheats, I have real life cheat codes!" the girl declared with a giggle and then exhaled a breath.

"Don't be too surprised **Kiue-Jin** , de author got his annoyance wit' Sasuke out of 'is system a long time ago. He can now focus on making de story better by making him into a more interesting character. An' you'll be 'appy ta know dat de author 'as Shadowrun on 'is tablet, specifically Shadowrun-Returns, an he really likes de game. Jus' give us a name an' a place an ya job 'll be on de books when Tartarus officially forms," she remarked with a wink then moved on with a hum.

"Well **Iceman1228** , ye'll be 'appy ta know me own asylum is kind of what we're going for wit' de arkham thing from the first story. Modified of course but it'll certainly be a fun ride!" she declared and then leaned towards the camera. "For me assuredly, not so much for any of the Titans or Tartarus who get involved," she admitted and then snickered into her hand.

"Anyways my lovelies, I tink dats all fer dis chapter, so I'll see ya next time!" the redhead declared with a wave as the picture faded into static…

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00


	8. Red-X and The Outlaws PT1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 7**_ : _**Red-X and the Outlaws PT. 1**_ …

00

(Titans Tower…)

Beast Boy hummed to himself as he walked through the halls of Titans Tower. He was simply bored and trying to find something to do. However he paused when he noticed a racket coming from down the hall. The green teen looked to either side and then stealthily made his way to the noise. He then paused as a door opened and Starfire flew out while carrying some things out of her room.

"Huh?" he questioned then followed the girl. She placed the things down a distance away then turned with a sigh. She then carried more out and as she did BB idly noticed Cyborg stop and approach. She placed her load down and returned to her room yet again, this time Robin and Raven popped up and watched her carry her clothes out and set them down with the rest of her things.

"Uh Starfire," Cyborg began and the girl hummed in acknowledgement.

"You going somewhere?" BB questioned curiously as the girl flew out of her room again.

"I am leaving for Tamaran," the alien powerhouse replied as she put her things down and moved to the next load.

"And you're taking all your stuff, because?" Raven questioned as Starfire flew passed her. The redheaded alien powerhouse paused and closed her eyes for a moment. She then turned to face them with a forced smile that clearly didn't reach her eyes.

"I am not ever coming back," she admitted. Her admittance got quite the reaction as the others stared at her in shock.

"WHAT!?" they all demanded of the alien who rubbed her arm.

"S-Starfire what's wrong?" Robin questioned. However they girl continued her forced smile.

"Nothing is wrong," she assured them. "I am," she paused and looked to the side, then looked back to her friends, "getting married," she finished. The others took that bit of news about as well as they had her leaving.

"WHAT!?" they demanded and then watched as Robin passed out…

00

(Jump City, California…)

It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, the JCPD was in ruins… okay, so some things weren't so great. But a small crew of workers was already hard at work clearing the debris from where the JCPD once stood. Yet as they worked one of the man noticed a yellow and red flash of light run passed them. _'What the?'_ he wondered then gasped as a burst of air nearly bowled him over.

The yellow and crimson streak moved through the city like a bolt of lightning. Literally with the sparks of energy that seemed to flow off of it as it moved. It moved down the streets of the city, then turned and started to move along the side of a building before it flipped off of the building to reveal a teenager. He was grinning as he fell then launched forward once more as soon as his feet hit the ground.

' _So this is Jump City, kind of nice,'_ the teen noted to himself as he ran onwards. He moved fast, so fast he looked more like a blur of colors as he passed through the park. In doing so he caused a jogging woman to nearly fall only to quickly stop and catch her a smile on his goggled face. "Sorry 'bout that!" he stated as he placed her on her feet, then he was off like a shot heading in the direction of Titans Tower.

The woman stared in shock, her hair a mess as she wondered what just happened.

As the young speedster moved he noticed a hotdog cart and touched his stomach with a hum. _'Kind of hungry,'_ he admitted to himself. He then came to a stop in front of the stand with a smirk. "Three hotdogs with everything my good man," he stated. The man working the stand just stared at the teen as he tapped his finger on the stands counter and glanced at his wrist condescendingly.

"Kind of in a hurry here 'bud," he noted pointedly. The man slowly nodded his head and made the three hotdogs and placed them on the counter. As he did he looked up at the teen, his bright crimson red windswept hair, green eyes, fair skin with a slim runners physique, and an odd padded 'costume'. It was yellow up top with a red lightning bolt on his chest and red gloves, red 'pants' with yellow boots, and a yellow half-cowl with a pair of attached red goggles and lightning bolt ornaments at his ears.

"Umm th-that's f-four fifty," the man told the teen who grinned.

"Sweet!" he stated then pulled a five out of his glove. "Here ya go," he stated as he picked up and ate the first hotdog. Then gave a pleased hum. "Ummm, man that's good," he stated then smiled brightly. "Keep the change," he remarked as he finished the first then ran off with the other two. The man just stared as the speedster hurried off into the distance and then rubbed his head. Then wondered what the heck had just happened?

Meanwhile the speedster finished his lost hotdog as he went, then glanced up as he noticed the bay. _'Dick said that they were on 'Titans Island' which is out in the bay…'_ he noted to himself, _'and did they only name it that cause they live there or what?'_ the speedster wondered with a smirk across his lips. He then slowed to a stop as he saw Titans Tower and snorted into his hand and snickered.

' _Oh my gosh, he lives in a giant capital T, out in the middle of the bay in the open!?'_ he internally demanded as he held his sides and broke into laughter. "Oh that is just too priceless! How hasn't that thing been blown up yet?" the speedster demanded then exhaled a sigh and wiped a mock tear from his eye. His mirth was not abated however as he then lunged forward at top speed, literally moving fast enough to run across the water.

' _Ah the joys of being a speedster,'_ he noted to himself with a bright smile. His journey across the bay caused the water to bend at his sides as he came to a stop on the island and rubbed his chin with a hum. _'Well it's worse than I thought, this thing is huge and yet no one has tried to hit with rockets or something yet,'_ he noted with a glance around the island which showed no signs of such an attack.

"Huh… it's kind of sad when I can say I expect that kind of thing," the speedster noted to himself as he raised his goggles. Though in his defense several of his mentor's enemies had tried to hit him with several weapons of varying sizes and yield… a rocket might actually be mundane by comparison. He shrugged his shoulders a moment later and sped to the front door, which he belatedly realized as more than triple his height.

"Man, I can't imagine the chewing out Bat's would give Dick if he saw this place," he noted to himself with a shake of his head. Given the Bat's propensity for secrets, stealth, and misdirection a giant T in the middle of the bay would clearly rub him the wrong way. A few of the other heroes would also see it as a major risk and kind of… well, stupid. Especially with the kind of things they fought on a bi-weekly basis.

"Well to each their own," he murmured as he pressed the doorbell. He didn't want to be rude and just barge in out of the blue after all… he'd probably do that later but first impressions and all. Not with Robin of course, he and Rob went way back, no he was trying to make a good first impression on the others. Mostly cause the number of other teens he could relax and hang around with had just potentially doubled!

Being a teenage hero was awesome and all, but his social circle kind of took a blow since he had to hide who he was from most people and run off at a moments notice on a normal day. Robin was always kind of a douche when it came to his identity, probably as a result of Batman, but the speedster was fine if he could make new friends. He wouldn't just outright tell 'em who he was of course; he'd wait till he got to know 'em first.

"Well this place seems like an incident just waiting to happen," a voice came and tore the speedster from his thoughts. The redheaded teen looked up and then grinned as he saw a girl lower down. Tall with tanned skin with brilliant blue eyes and a powerful physique, the literal Amazon landed in a low crouch and then brushed her long black hair behind her shoulder with a bright smile.

She was dressed in a sleevless red high-collared unitard that formed a W at her throat, a lengthened silver W that resembled a belt, with yellow stars that ran down from over her chest down to the sides of her legs, a pair of black shoulder pads with straps that held them on, a pair of black boots, and black sleeves under her silver manacle style bracelets. She also had a single edged gladius and a buckler, both of which were on her back.

"Hey Wally," the girl offered with a raise of her hand. The said redhead spread his arms wide and approached the girl with a wide grin.

"Donna!" he exclaimed cheerfully, "How's my favorite little Amazon?" he questioned. He then paused as the girl smirked and tilted her head. She then raised a hand to place it on the top of his head. She then raised her other hand to the top of her own head and compared the two heights. She then smirked as she noticed she was a few inches taller than the redheaded boy.

"I'm not so little for one," she noted humorously. Wally scoffed and crossed his arms petulantly. "Also, how many other Amazons do you know again?" she questioned with a twinkle in her eyes. Wally frowned and turned from the girl with his nose in the air.

"I liked you better when you were cute and innocent," he stated with a nod. Donna merely shook her head and looked up at Titans Tower with a frown. "So do you think this place is a really bad idea for a base or is just me?" the speedster questioned with a glance at his friend. The Amazonian warrior frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Honestly I'm surprised no one's blown it up yet," she replied. Wally chuckled lightly.

"I thought the same thing," he admitted with a smirk. They then paused as the doors to the tower opened up. Within they saw an old friend.

"Wally," Robin stated as he walked out with a grin, then looked to the girl, "Donna," he noted with an incline of his head, "It's good to you both again," he stated with a smile. The two in question smiled and placed their hands on his shoulders.

"You too short stuff," Wally noted. He then cupped his chin and nodded his head while the boy wonder twitched. "Nice to know that some things never change," he remarked cheerfully. Robin twitched and narrowed his eyes on his old friend while Donna looked inside of the tower with a frown.

"Dick, is it me or is this place basically an enormous target?" the Amazonian warrior noted bluntly. Robin winced and then exhaled a breath through his teeth.

"Technically I had nothing to do with the design," he admitted as he rubbed his forehead, "Cyborg's actually from Jump City so I left it up to him," he added. He then motioned them both inside, only to pause and turn to them with a frown, "Before I forget, keep my real name on the down low," he ordered then entered the tower with a flourish. As he did both Donna and Wally glanced at one another, then followed the boy wonder inside.

"So you really are being a paranoid ass again I see," Wally noted with a frown. Robin's brow twitched and he shot a look at his old friend.

"I was not a paranoid ass and you know it!" he replied bluntly. Donna hummed in response, index finger placed against her cheek.

"As I recall we only learned who you were because your mask fell off in battle," she recalled and Robin's brow twitched. Wally snickered into his hand at that and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, and then you started to glue the damn thing on with Spirit Gum!" he recalled with a grin. Donna giggled at the reminder and Robin's brow twitched. _'Why did I think it'd be nice to have them around again?'_ the boy wonder briefly wondered to himself. _'Oh right we need help dealing with X,'_ he recalled with a frown. Well there was that of course but also a few other reasons; mostly he had missed his old friends.

"So D…," Donna began as she walked up next to the boy wonder, only for him to shoot a look at her. She sighed dramatically then shook her head, "Robin," she stated pointedly and he nodded his head, "What's happening that you needed to call us both here?" she questioned curiously. Given how long it'd been since either she or Wally had seen the boy wonder, and how long his team had been active, the sudden summons was a surprise.

"We have a problem with a specific criminal," he admitted with a frown. Wally and Donna looked to one another, Wally shrugged and Donna sighed.

"What kind of a problem," she asked her friend curiously. Wally looked at Robin with a raised brow as the boy wonder scowled deeply. _'Wow, whoever it is really got under the boy wonder's skin, he doesn't usually rile up this easy,'_ the speedster noted to himself.

"A thief called 'Red-X'," he replied bluntly. Donna blinked at that and raised a brow.

"A thief?" she questioned. The wording sounded oddly deliberate in her mind.

"He's also potentially a speedster," Robin stated bluntly. That caused Wally to pause and then grimace. He was well aware of how much trouble a normal speedster was, but give a thief those powers…

"Yikes, I see why you called me here at least," Wally murmured. Donna nodded then looked at Robin curiously.

"And me?" she questioned. She then saw Robin grimace.

"From what we've seen thus far said thief slash speedster is also extremely good with blades and has greatly enhanced strength on top of the speed. Additionally he has a special suit that can enhance his already varied abilities," he admitted. Donna's brow shot up and she looked at him curiously.

"How badly did he beat you?" she questioned bluntly. Robin twitched and narrowed his eyes as they entered the elevator.

"Bad," he replied with a frown. Donna whistled and then looked up while Wally shook his head and hummed.

"So we're being brought on board just to help with this one guy?" he questioned. Robin shook his head in response as he patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Of course not, I've always meant to bring you guys into the team, unfortunately I never really had a valid reason to do so," he admitted. He then crossed his arms and frowned deeply. "Truth is, we also recently found out Starfire is 'betrothed' and needs to head home to Tamaran. I'm hoping you guys'll hang around here and look after the city while we're gone," he admitted. Donna hummed in response.

"Well when I came back with Diana I told her I wanted to find my own place in man's world this time," she remarked and hummed. "I've long since finished my Amazon training so I know I can defend this city at the very least, though I would appreciate any help," she admitted and Robin nodded his head. He had already been aware of that from the files that Batman kept on the other heroes.

"I could probably run to and from home in the mornings when I need to get to school," Wally remarked with a hum. "So I guess I'm good too," he admitted. Robin silently nodded his head and then stepped out of the elevator as it came to a stop. Donna and Wally followed the boy wonder as he traveled into a large hangar bay. There they saw the titanium teen, Cyborg, hard at work prepping the T-Ship for their departure.

"You might also have Garth, I sent him a request but he never replied," Robin added and saw both teens grin.

"Nice, it'll be fun to work with ol' fish-face again," Wally admitted. Donna looked at her redheaded friend with a bemused expression then glanced at Robin.

"I also sent a request to Roy," Robin admitted. Donna winced and looked away. She and Roy had a bit of a… rocky history. She'd gone on one date with the boy and that had ended in total disaster. "He basically said no," Robin admitted. Sometimes it was hard to pin Roy down, the redheaded archer was occasionally friendly, but other times he just seemed so hostile…

"Dude!" the three paused and turned as Beast Boy slid to a halt. The green teen practically had stars in his eyes as he looked from Donna to Wally. "Wonder Girl and Kid Flash!" he exclaimed and then grabbed KF's hand. "Dude it is like such an honor to meet you!" he declared. Wally arched a brow and looked to Robin who just shook his head. Donna however knelt down and smiled at Beast Boy.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she stated and offered a hand. Beast Boy accepted and the dark haired amazon smiled. "And please, call me Donna, all my friends do," she stated cheerfully. BB just looked at her with a blush and chuckled nervously. Donna blinked and watched the boy back away then looked to Robin for an explanation. However he was silent while Wally snickered to himself and then placed a hand on Donna's shoulder.

"He's probably a little shy Donna and you are a total babe," the redhead offered. Donna frowned then stood up while the redhead glanced around. BB had hurried over to Cyborg and was rapidly telling him about them, pointing and gesturing towards them wildly. The titanium teen himself had glanced over and resisted the urge to gape in shock. Meanwhile Wally moved his eyes elsewhere and spotted…

"Hello," Wally noted and vanished in a burst of speed. Robin and Donna blinked then turned as a yellow / red blur reappeared a distance away. Only now he was holding a bouquet of flowers he'd procured from… somewhere. "Pretties for a pretty," he offered with a slight bow. Robin raised a brow while Donna shook her head, the girl Wally offered the flowers too merely blinked.

"Uhhh…" Raven murmured then looked at Wally strangely. She'd been reading, waiting for when the ship was ready to leave. Starfire was off sulking or doing whatever she needed to do in order to prepare for the trip. But as she looked back down at the flowers she felt her nerves start to fray. She then looked up at the redhead and then suddenly called on her powers and vanished into a pitch-black void.

As she vanished Wally reached a hand up to scratch at his hair and look at two of his oldest friends questioningly. "Was it something I said?" he questioned. Donna giggled to herself while Robin shook his head with a bemused smile. Robin chuckled with a shake of his head and walked over to pat his old friend on the shoulder.

"Sorry 'bout that," he offered then glanced at where the girl had been, "Raven… takes some time to get used to people," the boy wonder admitted. Wally hummed in response while the boy wonder nudged to the side, "we're still not sure if she's used to Beast Boy yet," he noted. Wally snickered to himself while Robin patted his shoulder again. "C'mon Kid Mouth, I'll show you to the kitchen," he stated. Wally nodded with a hum then smirked.

"You have any iced mochas?" he questioned, Robin rolled his eyes.

"Yes we have a machine for that," he replied. Wally pumped a fist in victory while Donna shook her head. "You coming Donna?" the boy wonder questioned. The amazon briefly looked about and then nodded and followed her two friends. Almost as soon as they left Starfire entered the hangar and raised a brow when she saw BB and Cy gaping towards the elevator… what had she missed?

00

(Later…)

The Titans were in the T-Ship and making their way to Tamaran. Robin had been silent since they left the tower. Starfire was zoned out, staring into space with a sigh every now and again. Beast Boy on the other hand hadn't kept his mouth shut. It seemed that even Cyborg had had enough of the green teen… at least given all the shouting. Raven had tried to ignore them all, yet unfortunately it wasn't working…

"So Raven," BB called out over the speakers. Raven felt her brow twitch and glared across the way at the green teen. "What'd you think of Kid Flash?" the green teen questioned teasingly. Raven blushed and looked away with a scowl.

"No comment," she grumbled.

"Aw c'mon Raven!" BB pleaded. The girl shot a death glare at him and he backed off with a yelp. As he did Cyborg chuckled to himself and then looked to Robin curiously.

"So Rob, are your friends going to be okay without us?" the titanium teen queried and Robin hummed in response.

"I sent a message to Speedy and Aqualad, hopefully they'll show up and help out as well," the boy wonder replied. Cyborg arched a brow while BB snickered to himself.

"Dude they'll have it made! I mean they got Wonder Girl herself and Kid Flash to boot!" the green teen declared as he crossed his arms behind his head. He was fairly certain that two of the longest running teen-heroes could handle the city on their own. Hell, he'd bet money that at the very least Kid-Flash could handle any city on his own by this point!

"Nice to know you got confidence in 'em BB," Cy remarked drolly. Robin chuckled in response and leaned back in his seat.

"They'll be fine, Wonder Girl is a fully trained Amazonian warrior and Kid-Mouth has taken over in Central City for The Flash on a several occasions," the boy wonder admitted. That was actually the truth too, though thankfully those occasions were rare and usually only when Barry didn't have time to be both himself and the Flash, like when he went on his second honeymoon.

"Dude that is so awesome!" BB declared. Robin rolled his eyes while Cy frowned and then sighed. Meanwhile Raven glanced at where Starfire was staring into the empty void of space and frowned. She briefly noted that BB and Cy had started to talk with Robin about their new… recruits… so turned off her headset and closed her eyes.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she whispered and a black shadow moved from her body and into Starfire. Starfire sat up straight when she felt, well, something then glanced around. _'Starfire calm down, it's just me, I figured we could use this little trip to talk,'_ Raven whispered into her mind. Starfire made to answer but Raven cut her off. _'Don't speak out loud, just think, we have complete privacy right now,'_ the girl assured her.

Starfire hummed then closed her eyes…

' _This feels strange,'_ the alien powerhouse noted. _'I'm not sure if I like it, but it does have the merit of being private,'_ she admitted with a hum. Raven internally blinked, as Starfire no longer seemed to talk in the strange way she often did. She then recalled that these were Starfire's thoughts, thus a direct translation of what the girl wanted to say, not what she tried to say.

' _Although I have to wonder why we've never done this on missions?'_ the alien powerhouse wondered. Raven grimaced in response.

' _My powers aren't psychic based Starfire, they're magic based. I have a limited range because my soul self has to essentially connect the two of us together and it can't split itself between all of us for this to be a viable form of communication,'_ the dark bird replied and Starfire hummed softly. That made more sense then Raven being too lazy to do it anyways.

' _I see, well in any case, why did you contact me? Is something wrong?'_ Starfire questioned. Raven briefly considered starting with continuing the story of the future. Especially given the revelation that X might already be just as powerful now as he was then. She was also worried about the alien girl, but she also felt that maybe she should start with a topic that wasn't so 'heavy'.

That in mind she really only had one thing available…

' _What did you think of the new guys?'_ she questioned. Starfire internally hummed.

' _I very much like Donna, she and I spoke a bit before we left. I found that we share many opinions of your culture and customs,'_ Starfire admitted with a very clear inflection of fondness. Raven idly inclined her head, even with what little she knew of 'Wonder Girl' that made a fair amount of sense. Though that brought up their other 'newbie', which caused the dark bird to frown.

' _What about 'Kid Flash','_ she questioned. Given that the first thing he did was flirt with her, Raven felt more than a little curious what her friend thought of him.

' _Kid Flash seems very confident,'_ Starfire noted and Raven snorted.

' _You mean full of himself,'_ she grumbled. Starfire giggled and then smiled.

' _No I mean confident, he also seemed genuinely interested in you,'_ she remarked. Raven snorted and crossed her arms.

' _Right,'_ she said sarcastically. Starfire frowned in response.

' _I'm being serious Raven, he didn't show any interest in me, just you,'_ the redhead noted. That nearly caused the dark bird to completely cut the connection out of shock, but she shook her head and frowned instead.

' _You're kidding,'_ she accused. Starfire did the mental equivalent of shaking her head.

' _No I am being truthful, he did say I was very 'hot', but that was all,'_ she replied. She also admitted to herself that Wally was familiar… very familiar… but she couldn't really place why that was. _'Thoughts for another time,'_ she decided. _'So, what else would you wish to speak of?'_ Starfire asked Raven. The dark bird was silent for a moment before she exhaled a breath. Time to move on to the heavier stuff…

' _Are you okay?'_ she questioned. Starfire flinched and internally sighed.

' _I am fine,'_ she tried but it didn't sound… well, it sounded like a lie to the empath.

' _Starfire I'm an empath, and we're currently linked, so please don't lie to me,'_ she deadpanned. Starfire sighed in response.

' _I am not fine,'_ she admitted, _'Raven you know I was once a slave, and even a prize to the Gordanians, so I ask you what seems strange about my being recalled to tamaran?'_ the girl questioned. Raven frowned for a moment and nearly bolted upright.

' _Wait, no one should be able to recall you since your people would believe you're still a slave, they were conquered so they certainly wouldn't recall you from gordanian space or risk some kind of retribution, and you said that none of the Gordanians got off planet so how would they even know where to contact you from or that you were still alive if they thought you were dead,'_ she listed. Starfire smiled softly.

' _Is it wrong I'm happy you know a few of my secrets now?'_ the redhead wondered. Raven frowned as her mind whirled and a scowl worked its way across her lips. There was literally only one person in the galaxy who knew that Starfire was alive and that she'd been on Earth all this time…

' _Blackfire,'_ she all but growled. Starfire sighed once more and nodded her head.

' _Yes it's my sister, I was aware that she took over Tamaran in the future, but it seems she did so very early on,'_ the redhead remarked. The twenty-year gap was more than a little irritating. Mostly because of the fact she had so few details to work off of if she wanted to really change anything. Gizmo hadn't let her touch his stuff, Red-Arrow hadn't been much better, and as for 'Batman'… well she didn't want to think about him.

' _We're clearly walking into a trap,'_ Raven stated with a frown. Starfire nodded.

' _Most likely, I'd wager it's less a trap for you and more of a way to humiliate me further than she already has,'_ Starfire noted then smiled mirthlessly, _'sometimes I think my sister actually enjoys causing me misery,'_ she admitted. Raven snorted, that'd been pretty obvious when they first met the girl.

' _Has she always been so… twisted?'_ the dark bird questioned. Starfire was silent for a moment and then frowned.

' _I do not think she was when she was small,'_ Starfire replied and then sighed, _'yet at the same time, when she was born my sister was found to be a 'Black Curse','_ she began.

' _Black Curse?'_ Raven questioned with a raised brow.

' _Yes, it's an ancient superstition among my people that those who lack the 'gift of X'hal are cursed. It is said the curse is due to the Tamaranean doing something to anger X'hal in a previous life and being marked for it by their black hair and lack of abilities,'_ the red head explained. Raven frowned.

' _Is it really a curse or?'_ she left hanging and Starfire smiled softly.

' _The Citadel looked into it after they conquered our world. It's actually just an exceedingly rare genetic anomaly, one that renders a Tamaranean's body incapable of absorbing Solar-Energy. As a result they lack our ability to fly, star-bolts, super-strength, and invulnerability,'_ she explained, _'They are quite easily spotted among my people in those with black hair,'_ she admitted. Raven frowned in response.

' _Blackfire was clearly using Tamaranean powers when she came to earth though,'_ she reminded. Starfire hummed in response.

' _Her armor was designed to absorb and convert solar radiation for her,'_ she explained.

' _Where did she…'_ Raven began but Starfire cut her off.

' _The Citadel modified her armor, it was originally of Tamaranean make but they added the technology which allows her to harness the power of the sun,'_ the alien powerhouse replied. Raven sat up at that and clenched her fists.

' _The Citadel… aren't they the ones who sent the Gordanians?'_ she questioned. Starfire was silent. _'Starfire?'_ Raven pressed and her friend sighed.

' _To understand, you must first know her story,'_ the girl admitted. She then felt something 'shift' and saw a bright flash of light. She blinked and looked down to see herself, and then looked up and widened her eyes. She was no longer in the T-Ship, instead she was standing before a vast jungle, a scent hung in the air that was almost like perfume, and the sky seemed to radiate with a golden glow.

"Tamaran," Starfire whispered as tears came to her eyes.

"It's so beautiful," a voice came from behind. Starfire turned to see Raven; the dark bird gazed in awe at the sheer splendor of the world around her. Azarath was magnificent in its heyday, but this world…

"Raven, what are you," Starfire began and then sighed, "We are in my memories, aren't we?" she questioned. Raven blinked then turned and nodded. The alien powerhouse sighed softly, then smiled and waved a hand outwards. "Then allow me to welcome you, to my home, Tamaran as it once stood," she declared. Raven blinked and arched a brow at the wording then watched as Starfire flew into the distance.

Raven frowned for only a moment before she quickly followed after her friend. They approached a grand palace, which caused Raven to widen her eyes as Starfire soon approached then landed by a window. She motioned Raven over and the dark bird approached with a frown. She looked inside to see several people, most of whom had red hair in varying shades, with one woman in particular being in bed.

"Among these people are my parents," Starfire began, "my father Myand'r, and my mother Luand'r," the girl stated with a smile. She then motioned next to the window, to an out of the way corner. There Raven saw a little girl who had a deep scowl on her face, familiar black hair that was long and framed her face, while her eyes were purple, and she wore a dark blue outfit that resembled a one piece swimsuit and little else.

"Alright, do all Tamaraneans dress like this?" Raven had to ask. She was also trying hard not to blush, half the men were in briefs not pants… as were the majority of the woman, and all of them were either absurdly handsome or drop dead gorgeous. _'Really not helping my self-esteem,'_ the dark bird thought to herself. Starfire giggled in response and then wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders.

"Look around you," the tamaranean declared and spun her friend around. "My world is a tropical paradise Raven, we have little need of the heavy clothing your people wear," the alien powerhouse responded. Raven grunted in response, a blush still lighting her cheeks. She also made a note to warn the boys… or well maybe they wouldn't care as much as she did… _'Boys,'_ she grumbled to herself then shook her head.

"So we were talking about Blackfire," she remarked. Starfire nodded and flew back to the window and looked inside. Raven followed her gaze to the young Tamaranean near the back of the room. She glanced at her friend and saw her sigh tiredly.

"Blackfire was the first born daughter of the emperor of Tamaran and the House of Tamarus, therefore she would have been first in line for the throne of tamaran," she admitted. Raven blinked and then widened her eyes.

"So wait, that'd mean that you're a princess, right?" she all but demanded. Starfire smiled gently then shook her head.

"No… not anymore," the alien girl replied softly and looked to the side. "When I was given to the Gordanians I was also stripped of all tittles, I'm just a Tamaranean," she replied and then shook her head. "But please do not interrupt again. I do not believe I can fully explain if you do," the alien powerhouse remarked. She then looked back inside and motioned for Raven to watch the near-black haired tamaranean closely.

"You see Raven, although she was first born, when they found that she was a 'Black Curse' she was passed over for the throne," Starfire explained and then smiled softly, "Despite this, she was stubborn and studied hard to be a good leader regardless, she learned tactics and strategies, sciences and technology, she planned to prove to our father that she was just as worthy to rule even without her powers," she explained then sighed.

Raven noticed a cry and turned as one of the Tamraneans held up a baby…

"Look everyone!" came a cry from a burly Tamaranean who held the babe, "Look at my pride!" he exclaimed as he held his child close and patted her head. "Her flesh is like gold and her eyes as green as her mothers! Her name is **Princess Koriand'r** , and like unto her name may she forever see the optimism of tomorrows," the man declared. Raven blinked then noticed Blackfire, the girl was breathing heavily with tears at the edges of her eyes.

"I was born at dawn," Starfire stated, drawing Raven's attention back to her, "on my world it is called the hour of innocence, they say it is when the day is yet to be and still brimming with hope and possibilities," the girl explained. Raven hummed in response, and couldn't help but notice that was similar to the girl in question. "Everyone rejoiced at my birth, everyone that is, except for one," the girl noted and looked to her sister.

There was a flash and Raven and Starfire found themselves standing in a hall. At the end of the hall they saw a tall burly Tamaranean man with a mustache speaking to a court. Near the back sat Blackfire, clearly a few years older but just as dour as she'd been as a child, while she could just barely make out a young Starfire beside the man. Raven looked to Starfire unsurely, and the tamaranean sighed softly.

"Despite everything Blackfire did to prove otherwise, my father was stalwart in his decision that she would not inherit the throne and that I would instead," the redhead explained. Raven arched a brow and watched as Blackfire punched the stone column next to her, only to hiss and cradle her hand afterwards. She then heard a ruckus from the side as another Tamaranean punched through a solid foot of stone and laughed…

"Ouch," Raven winced in sympathy for the girl. Blackfire twitched and then got up and stomped off with her teeth grinding together angrily.

"Indeed," Starfire replied, "No matter how smart she was, or how hard she tried, other Tamaraneans thought less of her for her lack of powers," the redhead noted and closed her eyes. "I believe it was always a sore spot for her, she often believed I laughed at her because she couldn't fly," the alien powerhouse admitted. She then crossed her arms and closed her eyes as the scene changed once more.

This time they were in a room for two children. Raven noticed that Blackfire was to the side, putting together some device or other, while a little Starfire was having her hair brushed by an older woman. Raven assumed it was their mother as the woman clearly had the same facial features as the two girls, not to mention the same eyes as Starfire, which her father had boasted about.

"As you can imagine, she was always very jealous of me as we grew up," the alien powerhouse noted. Raven inclined her head; she could very easily imagine that Blackfire was jealous. Starfire had her powers, she was going to inherit the throne, and she clearly had their fathers love… "What started as mere jealousy grew darker with each passing day," the redhead noted, Raven blinked and looked up.

Blackfire had sent a glare at the girl as their mother brushed her hair, Starfire merely waved at her sister who scowled and turned away from her. "But she was my big sister, I wanted her to like me, to love me," the tamaranean admitted with a sigh. "In my pursuit I fear that all I did was make her hate me more," the girl remarked as she rubbed her temples with her fingers as the scene changed yet again.

This time they were in a subterranean cave of some kind, yet they were no simple tunnels and no simple caves. Light bounced off of every wall and surface to create a cascade of colors, which could hardly be counted or imagine. Raven could name more than a dozen colors, but there were still more that she couldn't. Starfire seemed to brighten as they appeared in this place, and then looked back to Raven.

She motioned off to the side, where Raven now noticed a grand temple rested. But aside from the temple the dark-bird also noticed Blackfire a ways away. The dark-tamaranean seemed… different, less dour and more collected. The expression on her face more closely resembled the almost arrogant smirks she wore when the titans met her… but there was something more genuine about her expression.

"When I was six I was sent to train with the Warlords of Okaara, as is tradition for the royals of Tamaran. When I was sent to train with them, my sister had already been there for several years. She'd grown stronger on her own merit without powers and had found something she truly enjoyed," the alien powerhouse explained and then sighed tiredly as she watched her younger self hurry over to hug her sister.

Blackfire grimaced and called for the girl to release her, Starfire did with a sheepish smile. Suddenly Blackfire was very dour looking again. Raven winced as she realized that Blackfire knew what it was like to be human, she didn't have the strength or the invulnerability to shrug off one of Starfire's hugs. Not only that but it was just another reminder of what she lacked in comparison to her sister…

' _Jeez, it's like life decided it wanted to kick her in the teeth repeatedly,'_ the dark bird noted to herself.

"Okaara is a planet that died millions of years before life emerged on any other planet in the Vegan System. It is a rocky husk on the outside," Starfire admitted and then spread her arms and turned. She smiled joyously as she hopped into the air. "But inside! Is it not glorious my friend!" she queried of her friend happily. Raven merely smiled and watched the alien powerhouse fly around once then come back down.

She inhaled a breath and then closed her eyes.

"It was here that I learned," she remarked. There was a flash and Raven turned to see the little Starfire sitting before a tall blue skinned being in a robe. "The first year was spent learning to appreciate all that was about us, to know what was worth fighting for when there was no escape from battle," the redhead explained. She then looked to the side was with a flash another scene appeared, this time the little Starfire was practicing with a bo-staff.

"You can use a staff?" Raven questioned. Starfire silently nodded her head as the young her fought with an armored blue warrior.

"The next few years were spent learning the art of warfare. Every manner of fighting was taught to us," she remarked as the scene changed again, this time the alien powerhouse was fighting with a sword against the same blue armored warrior. "We were shown how to love our friends, and how to hate our enemies," she stated with a clenched fist. The scene changed again, this time it showed the girl dodging around rockets.

"We learned of compassion and compromise, but we also learned that when they failed, there was only one recourse; War!" the girl stated firmly. She then closed her eyes as the scene changed yet again, Starfire was clearly older, and had just punched through a boulder with one hand. A gathered crowd cheered for the bubbly alien, while Blackfire hung in the back with a scowl.

The dark-tamaranean also looked much older this time, closer to how she looked when she had visited them. She wore a black swimsuit like outfit that left her shoulder blades bare, a belt overtop it, an armlet around her left bicep, a metal neck-guard, a pair of metal wrist protectors, and calf length black boots. Blackfire watched them for a moment then scoffed and walked away.

"I'm going to guess Blackfire didn't take too kindly to you upstaging her in what she felt was her 'thing'," Raven guessed and Starfire sighed and rubbed her bicep. She then sat down, Raven sat beside of her friend and watched as the scene changed. She could see in the distance Starfire and Blackfire fighting one another. She turned to look at Starfire with a raised brow and the alien girl sighed.

"In order to 'graduate' from our training a tournament was held, I entered it and made it to the final round," Starfire admitted and closed her eyes, "It should be no surprise that it was my sister who was my opponent," Starfire remarked. Raven grimaced; she couldn't imagine that would turn out well for either of them. Given all the built up animosity and jealousy, Blackfire would likely explode on Starfire.

"Although she was my senior, it was decided that I was ready to battle her," the alien explained. "I saw it as a way to show my sister everything I'd learned on Okaara," she explained then closed her eyes. "I believe Blackfire saw it as an insult, she'd trained for years longer than I after all," the redhead admitted and then motioned to the distance. Raven looked to see Starfire and Blackfire fighting by a deep chasm.

"Our battle was fierce, my sister treated me as if I were a true enemy," Starfire noted and then frowned, "she put her all into it, utterly determined to beat me or to die trying," she admitted. Raven mutely nodded her head. The two did have a number of scractches and cuts across their bodies. Though to be blunt it looked to her like Starfire had taken the worst of it.

"Blackfire looks relatively unscathed considering," Raven noted curiously. Given tamaranean invulnerability that seemed off, especially since Blackfire didn't have any powers. Starfire smiled softly in response.

"I did not wish to hurt her," she admitted softly. "Despite the way she treated me, and no matter how much animosity may be between us she is still my sister and I will always love her," she stated firmly. Raven fell silent and turned away from her friend. Instead she focused on the battle a distance away.

She watched as the battle continued, both girls using swords to fight one another. Though at one point Blackfire managed to get a rope or lasso of some kind around her younger sister's neck. The Dark Tamaranean grinned nastily as she yanked back and caused the younger girl to gasp in surprise. Blackfire then twisted around the girl's body and kicked her off into the chasm.

Her victory was short lived however as Starfire flew out of the chasm and the rope went taut around Blackfire's leg. The dark tamranean was then pulled off the ground and into the air, only to swiftly swing her sword at the rope and cut herself loose. However it was clear she hadn't planned it out as she fell into the chasm herself. Blackfire gave a cry as she fell and the young Starfire swiftly dived into the chasm after her.

The young Starfire shot out of the chasm with her older sister in her arms and landed on stable ground. Rather than show her gratitude for saving her life, Blackfire shoved Starfire away with a vehement glare. She then stalked away, leaving behind a clearly hurt and confused Starfire behind. The scene suddenly changed, showing Starfire hurrying towards a spaceship that blasted its way out of Okaara and into the depths of space…

"My Sister left Okaara, and I did not see her again for a very long time," Starfire explained and then looked up to the sky. The scene changed to show Starfire back in the palace on Tamaran. She was older again, and this time she was looking over an odd device of some kind. Raven looked to Starfire questioningly. "My sister explored the galaxy, she visited many worlds and sent us messages of the places she went too," she explained.

She then looked to her younger self with a sad smile.

"But while she sent many messages, she left out other thing she did while she was away," the redhead remarked as she narrowed her eyes. The scene changed once more to show the familiar black haired Tamaranean, now in her usual banded armor, but speaking with several green reptilian looking creatures in familiar golden armor. Raven recognized the Gordanians, and frowned when she saw Blackfire shake ones hand.

"Long has Tamaran been at war with the Citadel, a world closest to the Vegan Sun, their slavers are known as The Gordanians," Starfire explained as she waved her hand. She now showed her world under assault by the 'Citadel'. "However with our abilities we were easily able to defeat the attacking hordes," she explained. Then grimaced as the scene changed to show Blackfire in a cloak and sneaking into the palace.

"Until my sister brokered a deal with them," the redhead stated with a frown. She then leaped up and after the dark tamaranean with Raven hot on her heels. As they followed the girl they traveled high into one of the towers of the palace. Once in the tower Blackfire found a single guard monitoring a set of devices. The dark Tamaranean smiled as she placed a device at the back of the guard's neck and shocked him.

The tamaranean male shuddered and shook before he fell to the side unconscious while Blackfire looked down at him with a smirk. The dark tamaranean idly flexed her hands, as if she were savoring the feel of her powers, and then grinned toothily as she brought both hands up and smashed them down into a control panel. The metal buckled and the device sparked wildly as the girl pulled her hands back with a savage grin.

She then hurried to a window and shot off into the distance. Raven and Starfire gave chase and watched as Blackfire entered the next palace, and the next, and the next. The girl systematically destroyed each of the devices before pulling a communicator from her side. Starfire exhaled a breath and narrowed her eyes, "In exchange for the technology which allows her to use her powers, she disabled our monitoring systems," she explained.

Raven felt a pit form in her stomach as the sky suddenly turned dark, warships of varying sizes floated high in the air and then literally bombarded the planet from orbit rather than attack from the air or ground. Raven looked on in horror, as the world itself was ripped apart, where once were vast beautiful jungles, soon all that remained of the world was a barren wasteland…

"My people were unable to defend ourselves, the Citadel's attack was both swift and brutal," the redhead explained then the scene changed. Raven saw a man with a crown resting on his throne as two Gordanians dragged a young Starfire away. Blackfire stood next to a tall black skinned creature and gave a 'playful wave' to Starfire as she was taken from her family…

' _Suddenly I'm feeling a lot less sympathetic for her,'_ Raven thought with narrowed eyes.

"My sister brokered a 'peace' between my people and the Citadel," Starfire explained and then closed her eyes. "My father and the other kings of our world were forced to agree with her terms in order to save us all from complete and total annihilation," she continued, "they agreed to give the Citadel their first born daughters," the redhead stated then turned to the side.

"All save for one," she amended. Raven looked at her curiously as she pointed to a shot of light shooting into the sky from a distant palace. "That is the home of my childhood friend, Prince Karras," the alien girl explained, "His father adamantly refused to see his daughter in the hands of the Citadel, and so sent her away instead," she explained and then closed her eyes as the palace exploded from a shot from the sky.

"He and all those who stood with him paid for his disobedience with their lives," the girl whispered softly. She then watched as her younger self was dragged away, while Raven just stood there, unsure of what she could really say. Starfire sighed and the world around them faded to black. Raven looked to Starfire unsurely, wondering how she could comfort her friend considering all that had happened to her.

' _Certainly a lot more than I give her credit for,'_ Raven admitted to herself. She could hardly imagine how the redhead was still so cheerful and bubbly given all that. Then again perhaps she just didn't like to think about all the bad things and instead focused on the good. She so rarely spoke of her life and instead tried to generalize and speak only of the traditions of her people…

"That is Blackfire's story, as well as a bit more of my own," Starfire suddenly stated. Raven blinked and looked up as the redhead turned to her with a waning smile. "Though I admit there is more, it would take too much time to explain it all," she noted. Raven idly nodded her head and then looked down.

"How do you forgive Blackfire considering everything she's done to you, not to mention what she did to your people?" Raven questioned. Starfire smiled softly in response.

"Because no matter what she has done, she is still my sister," the redhead replied. As she did the world faded out and Raven opened her eyes to the real world. Starfire did as well and noticed that someone was contacting her. She idly flipped on her comm. when she saw that it was Robin. "Yes?" she questioned. Raven mutely looked away and attempted to digest all that had been revealed to her.

"Are you okay Star?" the boy wonder questioned, "You've been awfully quiet," he noted. The tamaranean powerhouse smiled in response.

"I am fine," she replied. "I am merely eager to introduce my home planet to you my friends," she declared cheerfully. "I also cannot wait to see Tamaran! I admit I have been having a bit of the 'sick home' feeling of late," she admitted mostly to herself. She then clasped her hands together. "First we must ingest the home squeezed glorg!" she declared and the others grimaced. Starfire had made 'glorg' for them after all…

"Or perhaps sputflinks," she considered and then her eyes brightened, "and wait until you see the Portkins, they are as big as a Flarnap!" she declared happily. BB silently imagined said creature and started to shrink in on himself.

"Um… am I the only one afraid of the big portkins?" he questioned. Robin felt his brow twitch as he then focused on Starfire.

"You said before that you're getting married," he noted with a clearly annoyed tone. Raven glanced at the team's leader from her seat and then slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah, uh, anyone we know?" the dark bird questioned. Robin shot her a look while Starfire sunk into her seat and poked her index fingers together.

"Oh I have never met him," she admitted. Her eyes were somewhat downcast as she looked to the side of the floor. "My betrothed has been chosen for me by the grand ruler of Tamaran," she admitted. She then sat up as she heard a thump from Robin's communicator, as if he'd just hit something.

"You're getting married," he demanded then paused to snarl, "and to someone you've never met!?" he exclaimed. The redhead winced and then sighed.

"Of course Robin," she replied then looked to the side, "It is the way of my people," she stated. Though that wasn't entirely true… in fact it was an outright lie. Her people were creatures of freedom; this was clearly more of Blackfire's handiwork. In fact her people barely acknowledged 'marriage' as an institution, all it was used for was politics and even that was rare as Tamaraneans believed more in the emotional connection.

This was especially true, since on Tamaran physical love was the same as friendship on earth. They loved their friends, sometimes physically, but always emotionally. It was why she was so 'affectionate' with all of her friends. She'd actually had to restrain herself quite often as she knew it wasn't the norm on their planet, but she found that their beliefs were a little strange at times… especially about marriage.

This was because on her world, soul mates were a real thing and their people could quite easily recognize when they'd found their soul mate. Her mother and father for instance had been together since their early childhood. She'd actually been promised to her friend Prince Karras at one point, but he'd found his soul mate in a girl named Taryia, a young servant in her father's palace and the marriage was called off.

She was fairly certain that this marriage however, would not end the same way…

"But Starfire," Robin tried to say, only to grunt as the T-Ship was suddenly attacked from out of nowhere. The team loked up in time to see a fleet of ships and Cyborg narrowed his eyes.

"I don't suppose this is some kind of crazy Tamaranean welcoming committee?" the titanium teen questioned. Starfire shook her head in response and he grunted. "Great," he muttered quietly.

"Whoever they are, they have us outnumbered ten to one," Raven remarked after a look at her radar. She then grimaced as a few blasts grazed her section of the T-Ship. Robin narrowed his eyes beneath his mask and gripped the controls of his ship tightly. He'd been more than a little annoyed today, but now it looked like he finally had something to take his aggression out on!

"Not for long," the boy wonder remarked firmly, "Titans, Separate!" he ordered. His team did as bade as the T-Ship split off into five separate ships…

00

(Earth…)

He heard a soft steady beep. He slowly returned to consciousness to see a white ceiling and mentally scowled. _'Fucking hospitals,'_ he thought to himself. He raised a hand to his forehead and sat up on the bed. He then glanced around to take note that he was in the old H.A.Y.E.P. infirmary. _'Well I haven't been here in quite a while,'_ the blond noted to himself and then took stock of himself.

' _My wounds have healed,'_ he noted as he pulled off several bandages as well as the cord for the heart monitor. _'I've got nothing but my boxers on, so Giz probably got me out of my suit,'_ he noted and then stretched his arms out. He then smacked his lips and closed his eyes to concentrate on his internals. _'My chakra seems to be flowing like normal at least,'_ he mused to himself.

With that done the blond turned and slipped off of the bed and stretched out once more. He took a moment to do a few quick stretches to limber up his muscles and then walked out of the infirmary with a yawn. If he was at the H.A.E.Y.P. infirmary, then Angel and Kyd had told the Troika about their little secret. He wasn't too terribly miffed about it either; he had planned on telling them eventually after all.

He idly scratched at his head as he walked out into the semi-damaged halls of the former H.I.V.E. academy. _'Guess Kyd and Angel only cleared the halls out thus far,'_ the blond mused to himself. It'd only been a few months since he'd last seen those two though so it wasn't too surprising. The H.A.E.Y.P. was a massive building and it'd take a long time for two people to fix it up.

He'd only stayed away on the chance that Brother Blood was watching him. Unlike Kyd and Angel, Naruto knew that the man had kept more than a few eyes watching him around the H.A.E.Y.P. Usually they were in the form of spy drones, but he did also have the occasional student unknowingly watch him. Naruto had been sure to stay away from the wrecked H.A.E.Y.P. and avoided using his X-Suit for that very reason.

"Tempest!" he heard Jinx call out. Naruto blinked then glanced to his side and realized he'd walked into an intersection. In it he saw the Troika, as well as Kyd and Angel. Of them, Mammoth and Gizmo were amused as they looked at the now scarlet-faced Jinx; the tiny terror snickered into his hand while Mammoth smirked. Meanwhile Kyd and Angel didn't react to his lack of attire at all save for arched brows.

"Yo," he offered with a yawn. Jinx yelped and covered her eyes, which caused the blond to arch a brow. _'When did she become such a prude?'_ he briefly wondered then scratched the side of his head. "So did anyone bring me some threads?" he questioned bluntly. The others shook their heads and the blond hummed to himself. "Right then, emergency stash it is," he remarked and yawned once more.

"Wha?" Gizmo questioned with a scratch of his head. Rather than answer directly, Naruto raised a forearm to reveal a seal. He then bit down on his thumb and quickly swiped it over the seal with a pulse of chakra. A scroll popped into existence, which he swiftly caught and then unraveled. He unsealed a mesh undershirt, which he pulled on, followed by a red t-shirt, black flack jacket, black cargo pants, and black boots.

Once dressed he then pulled a black / red striped bucket hat out of the scroll and plopped it on his head as well. The hat shadowed his eyes as he stretched his arms to either side and then turned on his heel. "Whelp, I'm off then," he declared as he walked off. As he did Mammoth rolled his eyes and lightly tapped the back of Jinx's head. She yelped and turned to him with a glare and he mutely pointed at the leaving blond.

The girl swiftly ran to catch up with the teen while the others followed at a sedate pace.

"Oh no you don't!" Jinx growled as she slid ahead of the blond. He tilted his head as the girl narrowed her eyes on him. She inhaled through her nose and then exhaled a quick breath as she calmed herself down. "First of all, thank you for all your help last night," she stated with a nod. Naruto mutely rolled his eyes and waved it off. He'd done bigger things for his friends before. _'Like Sakura,'_ he internally remarked…

"Second of all, how in the name of hell did you manage to steal the academy and not tell me?!" she demanded incredulously. Naruto arched a brow with a smirk and Jinx suddenly blushed. "Us!" she blurted out with her hands raised, "I meant us!" she declared and glanced around a bit too shiftily to be believed. Gizmo scoffed from his position riding on an amused Mammoth's shoulder.

"Oy who cares how, I want to know why he doesn't live here instead of that dinky little apartment," Gizmo declared with a frown. Naruto glanced back at his short friend and smirked.

"Blood was having me watched, I wanted him to believe this place was genuinely destroyed," the blond replied, "That's also why I wasn't doing the whole 'Red-X' thing for a while, I wanted Blood off of my trail," he admitted. While he could probably take Blood in a one on one fight, he knew no fight with Blood would be one on one. Not only would the man use his friends as living meat shields but he also had H.I.V.E. agents to throw at him.

"That makes sense," Mammoth admitted. He'd been extra cautious of Blood as well as of late. Mostly in the form of smuggling Shimmer and Leviathan out of the school to keep them away from Blood's mind control. As nice as free room and board were, he was not going to put his sister or girlfriend in danger to keep it. Then again he might move them into the old academy if Naruto let them stay…

"Yeah sure," Gizmo stated flippantly, "But what'd you steal this place for?" Gizmo questioned. Don't get him wrong, the academy was a magnificent facility, but for someone like Naruto it was extremely high maintenance. Not to mention the blond couldn't tell the difference between a power adapter and a network cable…

"Mostly to prove that I could," Naruto said with a shrug then clicked his tongue, "But I also figured it'd be nice to have a halfway descent place to set up shop," he admitted. It was a pretty good reason in his opinion. Most 'villains' in this world worked out of warehouses to the point someone could toss a rock at one and likely find a villain's hideout. Naruto had wanted something better than the run of the mill con.

The Troika could appreciate the sentiment. Since they had graduated, though they were still called on by the H.I.V.E. for minor jobs, they had been set up with a warehouse on the outskirts of Jump City. It was a miracle that Gizmo had managed to upgrade the place as much as he had, and a testament to their teamwork and friendship that they had worked together to make the place into something halfway decent…

But you didn't compare something like that to the facilities in the H.A.E.Y.P.

The Infirmary alone was state of the art, add on the training facilities, the mess hall / cafeteria with a fully equipped kitchen, a massive armory, all the dorms and rooms ready for conversion to suit other means, the labs, the computers, etc etc… it was quite literally anything a villain would ever need. Plus it was conveniently hidden by way of the fact that the Titans believed that the school had already been destroyed.

"By the by, you guys can set up here if you're looking for a place to stay," Naruto offered casually. Kyd and Angel had honestly expected that to happen. They'd enjoyed their 'alone time' in the academy for long enough anyways. It would be nice to have some actual social interaction with other people again. It certainly got some… interesting reactions from the Troika.

"Wait what?" Jinx demanded. She could scarcely believe after all the trouble they had already put him through the night before that he was just going to offer to let them stay in what was, essentially, his place.

"Seriously!?" Gizmo questioned with a wicked grin. He could already imagine all the things he was going to be doing with the labs, armory… he suddenly broke into maniacal laughter as he imagined the possibilities.

"I'm moving Selinda and Levi here," Mammoth deadpanned and marched away. As he did Gizmo hopped off of his shoulder to stare at him, alongside a bemused Jinx. She had been more than aware that Mammoth was increasingly nervous about leaving his little sister alone. With Brother Blood around the older teen just wasn't comfortable leaving her or his girlfriend on their own for very long.

"Yeah, that's probably a really good idea," Naruto noted with a nod of his head. Mammoth was the only member of the Troika with any immediate, known, family after all. Gizmo's dad and Jinx's mom were full time career criminals. Gizmo Senior was still alive and kicking as far as they knew, but off at who knew where. Jinx's mom was, supposedly, still locked up in Alcatraz… though that was more of a rumor than anything.

"Anyways, how long is it gonna' take to get my suit back in working order?" the blond questioned. Gizmo made to reply but Angel punched him on the head with narrowed eyes.

"We're scrapping it and starting over," she stated firmly. Gizmo growled and glared at the winged girl.

"Hell no! Do you have any idea how long it took me to build that suit?!" he demanded. Angel leveled a deadpan stare on him in response.

"I helped work on it," she reminded him bluntly. He just growled and muttered to himself while Naruto scratched his hair.

"Err… no offense Angel, but could you at least patch up my old suit so I can still use it if I go on any jobs in the meantime?" he questioned with a nervous grin. He could always go out without it, but the suit was technically his costume and he didn't want people to know he was the one under it. Angel frowned for a moment then sighed.

"Fine," she grumbled. Gizmo smirked and snickered to himself. "But we're putting in a cut off so he doesn't hemorrhage chakra again," she growled. Gizmo stopped laughing then shrugged his shoulders.

"That's fair," he admitted. Naruto rolled his eyes at that then hummed to himself.

"By the way Giz, are those neural blocks of ours still working?" Naruto questioned. His short friend frowned in response.

"For now but I got a funny feeling they won't for long," he admitted. It was part of why the Troika had left Blood's proximity as soon as they graduated. Jinx was hyper paranoid of being mind controlled again and Gizmo had noticed that Brother Blood had something of an unhealthy obsession with Cyborg. Granted most villains had an unhealthy obsession or two, but it was better to err on the side of caution with a mind controlling psychopath.

"Think you can fix 'em up?" Naruto questioned. Gizmo frowned and rubbed his chin.

"Might take me a while," he admitted.

"I'll assist," Angel stated. Gizmo frowned momentarily then nodded his head.

"Right, good," Naruto stated with a nod and turned on his heel. He slipped passed Jinx and then turned back to the others. "Well then folks, I'm off for a lil R and R, catch you later," he stated with a wave as he turned back around. As the blond sauntered off Jinx crossed her arms with a frown.

"Sometimes that boy drives me crazy," she noted to herself. She then glanced to her side as Gizmo looked at her with a grin, standing on his spider-legs.

"Only cause you looo-ooove him so much," he teased, which earned smirks from Kyd and Angel. However Jinx mutely socked the tiny terror in the jaw…

00

(Tamaran…)

The T-Ship lowered towards the planet from orbit. There were marks from their brief, yet harrowing, battle against their unknown assailants. As they lowered towards the surface of the world, the male titans saw a barren harsh world. It looked almost like a wasteland to them. Raven however, she saw something horrifying, a world ripped apart and robbed of its glory by its enemies and betrayal.

Starfire on the other hand…

"Is it not the most beautiful place your eyes have ever observed!?" the alien powerhouse gushed. Raven looked towards the girl strangely, she had to wonder if she was being genuine or if this was her putting on a show. _'Great, now I'm questioning the reasons for everything she does,'_ the dark bird thought with a sigh. Maybe it wasn't so nice to know there was more to Starfire than what she presented…

The journey to the palace was an oppressively quiet affair. No one really had much to say, aside from Starfire who was gushing about her home. Raven occasionally looked her way, but couldn't get a read on what she was thinking. Robin was being broody, which wasn't that different to normal. Beast Boy seemed interested in the animals of the world Starfire spoke of, and Cyborg was interested in the technology.

Eventually they saw the palace on a plateau and approached it. Starfire was quite clearly ecstatic as she all but bounced in her seat. Raven smirked slightly, glad her friend could find some amusement in this situation. They set the T-Ship down on a landing platform attached to the palace. The team got out of the ship, Cy lamenting the damage they took from their earlier dogfight before they headed towards the palace gates.

Starfire walked ahead of them with her hands pressed together, then paused as the door began to rise up. As it did the Titans saw a group of Tamaraneans walk out, several in robes and armor, while one in the middle towered over the others, and the titans, standing at a solid eight feet and with one brightly glowing eye. The bearded balding behemoth marched forward, his shadow literally looming over them at his approach.

Starfire rose up with Starbolts at the ready and Raven looked at her friend strangely. _'What's going on?'_ she briefly wondered. The big Tamaranean was familiar; he'd been in a few of the visions Starfire showed her. Most of the time the big guy was with her father and so Raven assumed he was a friend to the man. But if that was the case why did Starfire look ready to fight him?

She received no answer as the big Tamaranean spoke to Starfire, of the words spoken, all Raven could pick out were 'Koriand'r' which was Starfire's real name and 'X'hal. When he finished he did so with a fist to his chest and Starfire got into his face and replied with something that sounded hostile. The big guy gave a roar as he raised his arms and grabbed at the alien powerhouse who gave a sudden scream.

"Titans, g-!" Robin began as he readied his throwing disks, the rest of the titans assumed a battle ready position as well, only for them to pause when he saw the big guy was laughing as he tickled the alien girl. Starfire herself was laughing quite loudly and literally rolling around in the air clutching her stomach. Raven sighed at this and lowered herself, while Cyborg scratched his head and Robin looked on unsurely.

"Um, unless they tickle people to death here, I think you can chill," the titanium teen noted and Robin relaxed his stance. They then watched the big guy continue to tickle Starfire for a moment longer, before they ceased. They girl giggled as she hugged the big guy tightly, then lowered down to her feet as he put a hand on her shoulder and she motioned to him.

"Friends, I wish you to meet my K'nofka, Galfore!" the girl declared with a bright smile, "he raised me from the time I was very small," she noted. _'Oh so he's like her bodyguard then,'_ Raven mused to herself. Beast Boy had a more animated reaction as he started to laugh out loud while pointing at the big guy.

"You mean this dude's your nanny?" he questioned laughingly. The rest of the Titans wisely vacated Beast Boy's immediate area as Galfore stomped forward.

"You find that amusing little one?" he demanded with a snarl. BB quieted up as he looked upon the bulking muscles of the enormous Tamaranean who could likely rip a full sized gorilla in half like tissue paper…

"N-no," he squeaked weakly and backed away. The others decided to put themselves ahead of the green titan for fear of him further insulting the tamaranean behemoth.

"Nice to meet you," Robin offered. Galfore nodded and pounded his chest.

"X'hal," he stated with an incline of his head. He then glanced at the T-ship. "I see you have met our new enemy," he remarked as a bit of the T-Ship fell away from the rest and started to spark wildly.

"Then you know who attacked us?" Robin questioned. Galfore nodded and then motioned to the side for the titans to look below. There they could see several vaguely insect shaped ships

"The great Drenthaxx army," Galfore responded with a wave. The titans stared in shock at what looked to be dozens, if not hundreds of ships. "They threaten to overthrow our planet, our very way of life," the big guy explained and then scowled. "And if I were grand ruler I would," he began with a clenched fist. He then inhaled a breath and exhaled through his nose with a scowl.

"Well," he began with a shake of his head, "I am not," he finished softly, "let us just say that much has changed, since you departed," he told Starfire. The alien girl merely flew forward and placed her hands on Galfore's shoulders comfortingly.

"I have missed you Galfore," she told him sincerely. The big Tamaranean smiled softly.

"And I have missed you," he began and then knelt down before the girl, "Princess Koriand'r," he stated. As he did the other guards that had been with him knelt down as well. As a result the boys stared at her in shock.

"Princess?!" both Cyborg and Robin demanded.

"Dude, your name is actually Coriander?" BB questioned with a scratch of his head, "Isn't that like an herb or something?" he questioned unsurely. The others stared at him strangely for a moment while Starfire looked to Galfore.

[Why did you call me princess? We both know I no longer hold that title,] the alien powerhouse whispered to her Knorfka in Tamaranean. The big guy narrowed his eyes in response and glanced at the guards around them. He then looked back to Starfire and placed a hand on her shoulder.

[It is as I said before, Little Star,] he began gravely, [Much has changed,] he intoned with narrowed eyes…

00

(Tamaranean Palace…)

After a feast, where they learned that Tamaranean eating habits were… well… they were kind of terrifying. Tamaraneans were apparently of the mind that if you didn't hurry you wouldn't get any, and the actual feast was more like a brawl. _'I'm going to guess Blackfire didn't get a lot of meals that way,'_ Raven noted with a frown. It seemed almost odd to her how poorly Blackfire fit in with her own people.

On Earth the girl was literally the life of the party, people liked her and she fit in, with or without her powers. On the flip side Starfire not only fit in on Tamaran, she was also beloved. It was literally like the sisters were polar opposites. Blackfire fit in on Earth, Starfire didn't, Starfire fit in on Tamaran, Blackfire didn't. It was kind of weird when you stopped to think about it.

Thankfully, music started playing at some point and they followed Galfore and a small entourage of Tamaraneans into a grand hall. There the Tamaraneans knelt down as what Raven assumed were trumpets, or the equivalent, played and someone marched forward from the end of the room. The titans glanced at one another unsurely for a moment, then knelt down with Starfire and Galfore as the figure approached. Raven glanced up and felt her eyes widen.

It was definitely Blackfire, but she looked more mature, or at least that was the only way Raven could describe it. Not to mention it looked like she'd put on some muscle since they last saw her. _'What happened to her in that prison?'_ the dark bird briefly wondered. She also noted that her long black hair seemed to have red highlights now, but aside from that her orange skin, sharp triangular eyebrows, and purple eyes remained unchanged.

She'd also changed up her armor, going for a banded metal chest-plate and arm and neck guards, with a 'broach' at her navel that connected her armor to a pair of tight black pants which left her hips bare, studded wrist protectors, and thigh high black boots with banded metal trim and toes. She also wore an M shaped crown over her head and had a fur lined purple / black cloak chained around her neck and hanging at her left side.

"All hail the grand ruler of Tamaran, The Empress," Galfore declared. Starfire looked up at that, she widened her eyes and clenched her fists.

"Blackfire," she whispered. Blackfire idly raised a brow at that and grinned.

"Hey there kids, you miss me?" she quipped with a smirk. Raven felt he brow twitch and resisted the urge to palm her face. _'She and X were dating at some point in the future… oh god there really are two of them,'_ she thought with a groan. One of X was bad enough without them somehow multiplying…

"How is she here?" Robin demanded with a snarl. BB and Cy just gaped, more than a little affected by the older alien's 'new look'. Not that Raven could really blame them; it was quite the startling change after all. _'Maybe she takes the whole 'ruler' thing more seriously than we give her credit for,'_ Raven considered. Given it was what she'd wanted more than anything else as she was growing up, that would make the most sense.

Regardless she watched Blackfire step forward and then look down at Starfire with clear amusement dancing in her purple eyes. "Surprised to see me little star?" she asked the redhead mockingly.

"I am," Starfire began and then exhaled, "surprised to see you out of prison," she stated somewhat lamely, though her eyes blazed neon green regardless. Raven noticed that Blackfire's eyebrow twitched violently and her eyes blazed with magenta fire as she looked down at her sister at the reminder of the prison.

"Oh that," she grumbled, "lets just say prison didn't agree with me, though this one girl had it so much worse," the dark tamaranean remarked and her eyes seemed to steam wisps of magenta smoke. "Something about having an unusually weak immune system in a scummy prison 'll do that!" she snarled at the redhead. She then inhaled and exhaled a breath and crossed her arms over her chest.

"So I busted out and came back home," she noted, "Funny thing is our dear parents fell ill and died not too long ago and so a new ruler was needed to lead our people," the dark Tamaranean remarked and then grinned nastily. "Of course you couldn't do it, since you were gone and… well, all those other reasons," she noted with a grin. Starfire growled low in her throat and glared at her sister for the crack.

"Then there was sweet little Ryand'r," she noted with her hands clasped together in mock concern, then smirked, "but he's gone missing," she stated simply then brushed a bit of her dark hair behind her back. "And as for cousin Alisand'r, well…" here Blackfire paused and looked genuinely confused, "no one's seen her in quite a while," she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. She then grinned down at her sister.

"Oh but enough about me," she stated dramatically, "I'm sure you're eager to see who you'll be spending the rest of your life with," the dark tamaranean noted as she stepped to the side and waved a hand back. There a handsome young Tamaranean turned around and the sight of him momentarily caught Starfire off guard. Robin gaped and pointed at the handsome young Tamaranean incredulously.

However the young Tamaranean then moved out of the way as a sickly green creature with a number of tentacles that oozed slime floated forward on a circular platform. Blackfire grinned as she waved to the green sludge creature; "Starfire meet your groom, Glgrdsklechhh," she declared and was clearly on the verge of laughter. Starfire gaped at the creature while Robin was on the verge of an apoplectic explosion.

"Um… he's cute," Raven offered in an attempt to break the tension… it didn't work…

00

(Later…)

Starfire paced in her room with a frown. She briefly glanced at her 'wedding dress' and frowned deeply. _'What are you up too sister?'_ she wondered to herself. The Drenthaxx were allies to the Citadel, they wouldn't attack Tamaran so long as it was still under their rule. That in mind Starfire knew that her sister had engineered this entire thing, her only question was for what purpose.

She briefly thought back to Red-X and all he'd told her, but also what another person in the future had mentioned…

"So, Robin's loosing his mind," Raven's voice came as the girl appeared out of a shadow with a frown. Starfire quickly slapped her hands to her mouth to keep from yelping and then looked at her friend crossly.

"Friend Raven you should not be here," the alien powerhouse told her. Raven rolled her eyes and shimmered like a shadow.

"I'm not, this is my soul self, I'm just here to talk and calm you down before we have two Robins running around," the dark bird remarked with a shake of her head. Starfire breathed a sigh of relief and then sat down on her bed. "So I take it none of this is actually real?" Raven questioned. Starfire shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

"The Drenthaxx have long been allies to the Citadel, when the Citadel brokered peace with Tamaran that included all their allies as well," the orange skinned alien replied with a scowl. Raven hummed in response and rubbed her chin.

"Could this be some kind of a coup?" she offered but Starfire shook her head.

"The Gordanians would devastate them if they were to try such a thing, and they are also not the stupid," she replied and then started to drum her fingers. "Blackfire wants something from that… thing… and is willing to give me to it for whatever it is that she desires," she noted then frowned, "but what that is exactly, I cannot say," the alien powerhouse noted and bit her lip.

"Blackfire said your wedding would be held a moonset, is there something significant about 'Moonset'?" Raven questioned. The phrase was a little odd after all. Starfire seemed to frown in response.

"Moonset is the setting of the Tamranean moon, which occurs roughly an hour before dawn," she responded. That got Raven's attention and caused her to scowl.

"You were born at dawn," she recalled and Starfire nodded her head. "So she's trying to taint that time of day for you?" she questioned. Starfire idly nodded her head as that definitely felt like something her sister would do. Raven frowned in response and then had a sudden thought. "Did X tell you anything in the future that could help?" the dark bird questioned. Starfire clicked her tongue and then hummed.

"Perhaps," she replied and then crossed her arms. "However I know one person who likely told me more of Blackfire's dealings than even he did," she admitted with a nod. Raven raised a brow and looked at her curiously.

"Who?" she asked and the alien powerhouse smiled mischievously.

"The Starfire of the future," she replied cheerfully. Raven idly nodded and then looked at the girl in wide-eyed shock.

"Wait what!?" she demanded…

00

[20 years in the future…]

(Tartarus Technologies…)

Naruto walked with Starfire at his side as he animatedly talked to her animatedly as they went. The younger girl snickered to herself as they entered into the OPS center of the building. "And that is why Komand'r, to this very day, has this crazy idea I'm literally the prince of all thieves," the blond declared with a shake of his head. Starfire giggled to herself mirthfully and then smiled brightly as they entered OPS.

"I am believing I was greatly needing that," the redhead remarked. "There has been too much the unfriendliness, and not enough of the joy," she noted aloud and Naruto silently shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, well they do say that laughter is the best medicine," the blond remarked. Starfire idly nodded her head as they walked over to the kitchen. There Naruto started to gather a few things from the cabinets while Starfire seated herself and hummed. "Something on your mind cutie?" Naruto asked as he grabbed a few extra ingredients. 'Aha, there we go,' he thought as he gathered everything and started to cook.

"I am merely curious if my sister ever missed me," Starfire admitted. Naruto paused and grimaced. _'Well… she did miss out on selling you to an alien slug slash slime freak so she could have a gemstone that she thought would make her more powerful, then had me steal it for her instead… and it did absolutely jack for her,'_ the blond thought and then chuckled nervously. He was so not telling her about that…

"Well you know how Kom can be," he replied. Starfire sighed but nodded her head in agreement with the thief. She was very aware of how Komand'r was even towards people she seemed to like. Unfortunately she had never been one of the people she liked so she could imagine Komand'r was quite pleased by her disappearance…

"Yes," she murmured then exhaled, "But enough of such depressing topics, please, what can you tell me of your 'Outlaw' friends?" the tamaranean powerhouse questioned. Naruto hummed and scratched at his head. Truth be told he wasn't sure what he should or should not tell the redhead about his friends. He wanted Xyannis to be a surprise, that was sure to be funny, but as for Roy, Jade, and Jason…

"Well, uh… lets see," he thought and then crossed his arms. "Cheshire is a former member of the League of Assassins, kind of crazy on most days, and I'm her daughter's godfather," Naruto remarked. It was also a point of fact that Rose Wilson, AKA The Ravager, had somehow wound up as Lian's godmother… Lian had even once mistakenly assumed that meant he and Rose were together.

Starfire hummed then tilted her head in confusion.

"What is being this 'Father of Gods' meant to symbolize?" she questioned. Naruto blinked and then palmed his face. It was kind of sad how the Tamaranean language had so many really screwed up words…

"It's 'God Father' not father of gods, Cutie. Technically I'm like her K'norfka, if anything happens to her parents I'm essentially going to be the one looking out for her," the blond replied. He'd also make it his personal mission in life to murder the ones that left Lian without her parents. He wasn't really all that fond of Jade, he and Roy were… kind of iffy… but he genuinely liked Lian and wanted her to be happy.

"Oh I see," the alien powerhouse replied. She then motioned for the blond to continue and he hummed.

"Red-Arrow is… kind of a prick sometimes, but he means well enough, he's Lian's father and was ironically the one who chose me as her godfather," the blond replied then frowned deeply. He really hadn't been too happy to find out he was named Lian's godfather because Roy lost a bet with Jason… He shook his head of such thoughts and moved on with a quiet hum.

"Then you have Red-Hood," he noted and grimaced, "He can be a bit intense, but when you finally get him to chill he's an alright guy. Just don't bring up clowns or bats and he'll be fine for the most part," Naruto replied. He then refocused on his cooking while Starfire hummed.

"Is it being intentional that most of you have 'Red' in your names?" she questioned and Naruto chuckled lightly. Truth be told it'd been a coincidence when they first teamed up, but then Roy and Jason started to have fun and brought on Red-Star and Red-Robin into the group once or twice. After a while people with 'Red' somewhere in their name just started to pop out of the woodworks and work with them on the occasional job.

"No, but sometimes I have to wonder," Naruto replied with a shake of his head. He then glanced to the side as Gizmo came in on his spider-legs. The Tiny-Terror then walked over and sat down with a visible scowl. "What's happening Giz?" Naruto questioned as he checked on his food. Gizmo grunted and crossed his arms on the table.

"Fucking ghost programs are driving me crazy is what!" he half snarled while Starfire looked from him to X with concern.

"Will your home be alright?" the alien powerhouse questioned. Gizmo grunted in and narrowed his eyes.

"This place'll be fine bitch, it'll take more 'en Cypher to take it out," the tiny terror replied. Naruto smirked beneath his mask and leaned to the side.

"Brainiac would disagree," he remarked. Gizmo snarled at his friend.

"We don't speak of that!" he roared and Naruto laughed at his friend's expression. Starfire was clearly confused, and made to ask what they were talking about, but Naruto slid a bowl in front of her. She blinked then looked down to see a noodle dish with a deep brown broth, some type of green veggie, topped with a strange brown-ish colored food and tiny white things with pink spirals in them.

"What is this?" the alien powerhouse questioned. She then paused as a pair of sticks was handed to her. She looked at the sticks strangely while the thief sat down with his own bowl of the stuff and passed one to Gizmo. The tiny terror accepted with surprising grace and accepted the chopsticks with a slight frown.

"It's a sort of food my people eat called udon," the blond replied then smirked. "This particular variant is also known as 'Kitsune Udon'," he explained as he reached up to mess with his mask. As he did Starfire looked at the 'food' with a tilted head and then to the sticks with a clearly lost expression. Gizmo grunted to get her attention and then showed her how to hold the sticks.

As they did that Naruto opened the jaw plate on his mask and moved it around.

"Much better," he stated, his voice no longer synthesized. Starfire idly noted that it was most assuredly masculine, but that is also sounded a bit off… "Anyways, Itadakimasu! (I humbly receive!)" he stated and clapped his hands together with a partially visible grin. Starfire raised a brow then stared as the masked thief proceeded to inhale the noodle dish, with much gusto, while Gizmo snorted.

"Oy, I swear your table manners have somehow gotten worse over the years," the tiny terror stated with a smirk as he blew on his food and ate at a sedate pace. Starfire idly glanced at him with a confused expression.

"On my world his manners would be considered quite acceptable," she remarked. Gizmo stared at her and then shook his head.

"Fucking aliens I swear," he mumbled while Naruto finished his first bowl, and then went to get more. As he did Starfire looked down at the food with a frown then tentatively picked up one of the spiral-things she saw in the soup. She dropped it once and then picked it back up as Naruto sat back down with another bowl he practically inhaled. She briefly blew on it then popped it in her mouth and her eyes all but sparkled.

"These tiny spirals are delicious!" she stated and swiftly popped another into her mouth. She smiled while Naruto chuckled lightly.

"Narutomaki," he remarked. Starfire raised a brow in response while the blond pointed his chopsticks at the little spiral. "That's what that is," he stated, "it's called narutomaki, it's a type of kamaboko," he further explained as he continued to eat, "it's basically pureed fish that's been steamed and cooked till it's firm," he stated with a shrug. He then returned to his meal while Starfire poked at the brown substance in her noodles, aside from the broth.

"And this?" she questioned. Naruto grinned beneath his mask. _'Green bean would love this,'_ he thought to himself.

"Aburaage," he replied and Starfire raised a brow. She then picked it up and took a bite, and then another and another until it was fully gone. Naruto half grinned as he looked at the girl. "Also known as sweetened deep-fried tofu pockets," he remarked. Starfire stilled and then blinked in surprise.

"The Tofu…" she murmured in surprise and looked at the blond incredulously, "but friend Beast Boy's tofu was never so good," she stated bluntly. She'd tried said tofu on a few occasions to make the green teen feel better… she often regretted it. Naruto snorted and then laughed while Gizmo snickered to himself. Eventually the thief calmed himself and shook his head.

"Well it helps when you actually know what you're doing with the stuff!" he replied with a sigh. Starfire inclined her head and then pointed at the greens in her bowl. Naruto exhaled and then glanced at what she was pointing at, but decided to explain it all ahead of time with a mental sigh. _'Note to self, never try to explain something to the cutie, she asks way too many follow-up questions,'_ he decided resolutely.

"The noodles are just wheat flour noodles, while those greens are known as 'Negi' where I'm from, but most in these parts call 'em scallions, while the broth is kakejiro, it's basically just soy sauce, dashi, and a little mirin," he explained with a shrug. Starfire mutely nodded and then started to eat the rest of her meal. As she did Gizmo glanced at his noodles then at Naruto.

"You actually put mirin in here?" he questioned. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Just some shin-mirin Giz," he replied bluntly. The tiny terror frowned in response.

"Spoil sport," he grumbled while Starfire casually looked between them.

"Is the mirin important?" she questioned. Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"It's mildly alcoholic," he replied. Starfire blinked and then hummed.

"How mild?" she questioned curiously.

"Only about fourteen percent at the strongest, but I use Shin-Mirin, so it's literally only about one percent," he replied with a shrug. The redhead nodded in understanding while Gizmo stared at her strangely. The tiny terror then muttered to himself and turned to face Naruto with a raised brow.

"So why Kitsune Udon?" he questioned. Naruto grinned in response.

"Irony's sake," he replied as he finished his latest bowl.

"What does that mean?" Starfire questioned and both Naruto and Gizmo snickered. Starfire pouted as they kept their private joke to themselves. After a moment Gizmo finished his meal with a sigh and then hummed.

"Oh yeah, I got in touch with the Outlaws, they said they'd swing by," the tiny terror noted as he pulled out Cypher's data-chit.

"Sweet, so when'll they show up?" the masked blond questioned. He then paused when he heard an alarm blare and Gizmo snorted.

"Sounds like they just did," the tiny terror replied with a grin. Naruto nodded as he slipped out of his seat and then glanced to Gizmo.

"So what're you going to do Giz?" he questioned. The tiny terror grunted as he held up the data-chit.

"I'm going to see if I can figure out where Cypher is held up with this," he replied. Naruto inclined his head then looked to Starfire.

"C'mon Cutie, lets go and introduce you to The Outlaws," the masked thief stated. The redhead nodded her head and floated off of her seat to stand beside him. As he did Gizmo slipped the Data-chit into a triangular device with an odd projector at the top.

00

(?)

Soaring through the skies of Jump City is a small, clearly alien vessel, which rapidly approaches the Tartarus Technologies building. Citizens, used to more unusual sights in Jump City, barely bat a lash as the vessel passes them by. In fact a few of them take the time to take pictures of the vessel as it passes. Within said vessel is a host of different people, whom are collectively known as **The Outlaws**!

One is known as Red-Hood, the infamous outlaw and once protégée of Batman. He's tall with an atheletic physique clearly defined by his outfit. He is dressed in a padded black suit with a red bat symbol on his chest, belt with holsters for his guns strapped to his thighs, a brown leather jacket, and bright crimson red mask / helmet. The often times notorious vigilante is currently seated beside his best friend, hands crossed behind his head.

"So did Gizmo tell you what X wanted Roy?" Red-Hood questioned, then glanced towards the back of the ship. Seated in a wheelchair is a lovely young redhead with bright blue eyes, fair skin, a wedding band, and a pair of wire frame glasses perched on her nose and a laptop in her lap. She wears a simple black tank top and blue jeans with a pair of old faded blue sneakers. "Also why are we bringing Barb with us?" he added curiously.

His friend, Roy 'Red-Arrow' Harper couldn't help but chuckle in response. He was a redhead and dressed in a red and black padded costume, the red forming a downward arrow on his torso, a grey belt with straps attached to pouches on his thoughts, grey boots with black soles, a black elbow length glove on his right hand and a black forearm length glove on his left hand, a black domino mask, and an old faded blue truckers hat.

"Cypher busted into their place again," Arrow replied. Hood rolled his eyes in response.

"Wouldn't be the first time," he remarked. Arrow nodded his head in agreement.

"True, but this time he's having us go after the H.I.V.E.," Arrow remarked. Hood blinked at that and chuckled nastily. He was going to enjoy that! However he then noticed that Arrow was looking at him with a smirk. "Why? Afraid Dick 'll make your life hell for kidnapping his wife?" he questioned of his friend. The redheaded woman in question chose that moment to speak up, though with a noticeable frown across her face.

"First of all, you didn't kidnap me, I'm helping out a friend," she remarked blandly, "and second even if he thinks otherwise, Dick doesn't control my life," she deadpanned with a nod then looked back to her computer. As she did a woman snickered and wrapped her arms around Arrow's neck.

"Aw sorry hun, looks like you don't get to tease J-bird today," the woman known as Jade 'Cheshire' Harper, Roy's wife of several years, remarked teasingly. The woman almost literally still had the body of a teenager despite the passed twenty years and birth of her daughter, Lian Harper. Aside from her height, and a little extra weight at her hips and chest, she looked nearly identical to her teenage self.

Roy grunted in response and glanced to where their final 'member' was seated. She was an absolutely gorgeous woman with a voluptuous figure deep orange skin with a beauty mark beneath her left jade green eye, and scarlet hair that cascaded down her back in messy curls. She wore a pair of green briefs with a red gem at the center, green boots and armlets, a pair of wrist protectors, green neck / shoulder guard, and what looked like a green strapless bra with a red gem at the center.

"You okay back there, Xyannis?" he questioned. The lovely redhead hummed and glanced his way with a sigh.

"I'm fine, Roy," she replied and then crossed her arms over her chest, "just remembering the last time we visited X," she admitted.

"Blackfire?" Arrow questioned. The said encounter hadn't been the most pleasant, especially since Blackfire found it funny to mock Xyannis about her situation on earth… needless to say it hadn't ended well for her. Granted this was also the bitch who caused the death of her family, her enslavement, the destruction of her world… Xyannis felt more than a little justified for a little homicidal rage.

"Not entirely," Xyannis hissed with narrowed eyes, "While I'm still more than a little annoyed by my last encounter with Komand'r, it wasn't X's fault she came by when she did," she admitted with a frown. Red-Hood shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Well what'd you expect to happen after you adopted the 'Starfire' name and happened to be a green eyed red haired Tamaranean who also happened to be the right age?" he reminded her pointedly. Xyannis scowled in response, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I only took that as my name because it was the name of the ship I came to earth on," she reminded him pointedly. She then huffed and narrowed her eyes, "I'm more afraid things will be awkward when we get there," she admitted. Hood blinked and looked to Roy for an explanation, however Cheshire snickered in response. She then pulled Roy's hat from his head and placed it on her own as she laid her cheek against his red hair.

"She pulled a Rose on him," she offered in explanation. Roy suddenly chocked and then started to laugh uproariously as he slapped his open palm against his leg. Cheshire giggled to herself, while Barbra snorted and then covered a smile with her open hand. Xyannis looked at the married couple with a raised brow while Hood looked to both of them with clear confusion.

"Someone please explain that to me?" he questioned. Roy took a moment to calm down and then looked to his friend with a wide grin.

"Remember how Rose had that thing for Tim-Tim for a little while when he was still hung up on Cassie," the archer began. Hood nodded his head; he quite easily recalled that particular mess of hormones… "Well there was this one time she snuck into his room and then posed naked on his bed to get his attention," the archer explained with a grin. Hood snorted and then clutched at his ribs as he laughed.

"No shit?" he demanded. The archer raised a hand.

"I shit you not," he replied, "best part is he then dragged her out of his room in handcuffs," he added and Hood couldn't help but laugh even harder.

"Oh god I can't imagine how that felt for him, especially if the other Titans saw him when it happened," he noted with a shake of his head. He then glanced back at Xyannis with a grin under his helmet. "So how'd X react?" he questioned curiously. It'd be nice for someone to finally one up X after all. The masked thief was a monster with pranks. However Xyannis just pouted and crossed her arms.

"He literally didn't react beyond asking what I was doing," she admitted. Hood gaped at her then looked to the archer who shrugged his shoulders. Cheshire just giggled into her hand and grinned down at the two.

"X desensitized himself to naked women after I used my feminine wiles against him a few too many times," she admitted. Xyannis looked at the green assassin with a scowl.

"So its you I have to thank for that then," she grumbled irritably. Hood just shook his head and sat back down.

"So what is it about X that seems to attract you alien girls to him anyways?" he questioned and Roy hummed.

"Aside from Xyannis and Komand'r I can't think of any other alien girls who were all that attracted to him," he admitted. Hood raised a finger.

"Jade," he deadpanned and Cheshire scowled.

"First of all, not an alien, second of all, I did not have a thing for that asshole! Especially not after he caused that wardrobe malfunction! That was Jinx!" she snarled. Hood raised his wrists in response. He did not want to get on Cheshire's bad side. She might've mellowed a bit with married life, but that wasn't by much.

"No I meant Jade, you know the half-alien girl, green skin and hair and eyes, she was like the first Green Lantern's daughter," he explained. Cheshire accepted that and crossed her arms over her husband's head as she laid her chin on her arms. Roy blinked and rubbed his chin with a hum.

"Did Jade really have a thing for him or were they just flirting for the sake of flirting?" Roy questioned aloud. Xyannis scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I never did see why he gave up the lantern ring," she admitted, "it was more useful than his suit and far less draining when he went all out with it," she noted aloud. Roy nodded his head in agreement while Cheshire just scowled in remembrance. She'd been on the receiving end of a few light constructs… highly embarrassing light constructs…

"He didn't," Hood suddenly replied with a frown. He'd actually tried to get the damn thing off of X's finger, but nothing short of removing his arm was getting it off and he was vehemently against loosing his arm again. "The damn thing won't go away," he added and Xyannis hummed with a sly smile across her lips. "It's also not the kind of green power ring that works off planet," he added. Xyannis pouted at that and huffed.

"Figures it'd be useless," she grumbled to herself. Hood glanced at her then at Roy who shook his head with a sigh. He returned to flying the ship and turned towards the landing pad built into the side of the Tartarus Technologies building. It wasn't just for their ship of course; they had many flying vehicles in this age. He then flipped a switch and pressed a button on his console with a smirk.

"I just sent an alert to Gizmo that we'll be setting down soon," he stated. Hood nodded and then pulled out his twin guns to check on them while Cheshire placed her mask back over her face and Roy's hat back on his head. Xyannis seemed to primp up a bit while Barbara hummed to herself. She'd hacked into Gizmo's systems too quickly; she made a note to upgrade his security protocols again after they dealt with the ghost programs.

As the ship lowered and landed on the platform a ramp lowered as the rear hatch opened. Without a word, The Outlaws, plus one, exited the ship and found X waiting for them. The masked thief chuckled and approached to grip Hood's forearm.

"Good to see you again, Hood," he stated. Red-Hood smirked in response.

"You too X," he replied while Naruto nodded his head back.

"I'd like you guy's to meet the Cutie," he stated as Starfire approached. He saw Arrow arch a brow and grinned. "She's better known as the Starfire from the original Titans," he admitted. "As it turns out Warp didn't vaporize her, she just got tossed a couple decades into the future," the thief explained. He also pointedly ignored the 'of course' he got from Hood and Arrow, since they'd had that kind of thing happen before.

Nearby Barbra idly glanced at the girl in surprise and then quickly wheeled herself passed both X as well as her and into the building. She had a bunch of ghost programs to deal with, and she really did not want to talk to her husbands ex… err… sort of ex… they never did get together after all. Technically she'd also dated him before he went to Jump City too soo… well she'd really rather not think too hard about it.

Back with The Outlaws Red-Hood approached the young Tamaranean. "Nice to meet you," Hood replied and held out a hand to the girl, "I'm Red-Hood," he stated. Starfire grabbed the hand and pulled the man into a hug, which caused him to gasp in pain while X laughed to himself.

"Greetings! I am Starfire of Tamaran!" she declared brightly, then dropped the man back to his feet, "it is a pleasure to meet you," she stated cheerfully. Cheshire and Roy snickered to themselves at that while Hood shot a look at both of them.

"Yeah, right," Hood murmured while Roy shook his head and approached the redhead.

"You probably already know me," he remarked. Starfire raised a brow.

"I do?" she questioned. Cheshire laughed even harder while the archer's brow twitched.

"Right I forgot that Dickie-bird was such a dick back then," he grumbled and X snickered to himself. Starfire raised a brow at that while the archer sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm Red-Arrow, used to be known as Speedy and I worked with Robin a lot back in the day," he explained. Starfire made an oh with her mouth and then hugged the man with a grin. "Oh dear lord," he grunted out as she basically crushed him in her grip.

"Not so funny from that end, is it asshole?" Hood chided his friend. Roy grunted in response while Starfire released him with a bright smile then looked to Cheshire. The green assassin narrowed her eyes behind her cat mask.

"Hug me and lose a limb," she deadpanned. Starfire yelped and looked to X, the thief calmed down and grinned at the young redhead.

"This is Cheshire, formerly of the League of Assassins, currently in The Outlaws… most of the time," he explained with a look at the woman. She smirked and offered a playful wave at the blond.

"Great seeing you too X," she teased as she sashayed off into the building, "If any of you need me, I'm raiding your fridge," she stated. X frowned for a moment and then looked around with a hum.

"Where's Goldie gone off too?" he questioned. As if in reply Hood and Roy both pointed up and the blond thief grunted as a certain orange woman pulled him into a hug. "Hey there Goldie, nice to see you again," he remarked with a smirk. Xyannis smirked.

"Nice to see you again X, you look good as always," she noted with a purr.

"I could say the same to you, babe," he replied with a smirk. He then vanished in a static flash and reappeared next to a clearly surprised Starfire. "Cutie, meet Goldie, Goldie meet Cutie," he stated with a wave to Xyannis who righted herself then flew down to the ground. She looked at Starfire with a raised brow and hummed.

"Your Karras friend, Koriand'r right?" she remarked. Starfire blinked and then felt her eyes widen and a grin threaten to split her face open.

"Wait, yes I remember you!" she exclaimed and squealed in joy, "you are his sister, Xyannis!" she exclaimed and then shot forward and nearly knocked her off of her feet. However she held firm and then looked down at the girl with a smirk as she babbled incoherently. Hood and Roy both listened with confused frowns before they looked to X.

"What's she saying?" Hood asked. The blond thief frowned and then hummed.

"She's babbling about how happy she is that Xyannis is still alive and such," he replied after a moment to translate in his head. He could really only understand every other word that the young Tamaranean was saying it was going by so fast. He then tilted his head as Xyannis idly pushed the younger Tamaranean off of herself. She then brushed off her belly and patted the younger redhead on her head.

"Yeah well anyways, sorry but I borrowed the 'Starfire' name while you were gone," she noted as she sashayed passed the younger girl. Starfire merely raised a brow.

"Why is that?" she questioned curiously and Xyannis turned around to face her.

"Some Citadel big shot named his ship that," she replied then scowled, "I ended up on said ship as his 'pet' before I got loose," she replied with a nasty grin. She then exhaled a breath and ran her hands through her crimson hair. "I ended up blowing it up and crash landed on Earth, so I took and have used the name for the passed few years," she explained and Starfire made an Oh with her mouth.

"I suppose I cannot fault you," she murmured then sighed, "Since I was not here," she admitted and Xyannis nodded her head. As she did the boys looked between one another warily.

"Think Star'd be so nice about this if she knew how she acts?" Hood questioned. X and Roy glanced at one another and then walked to Starfire and Xyannis's side.

"C'mon ladies, we should go see if Giz has found where Cypher's held up," the masked thief stated. Starfire idly nodded her head while Xyannis smiled.

"It'll be nice to finally deal with that bucket of bolts," she stated as she flew into the building. Starfire looked at the older girl strangely then to Naruto. The masked thief reached a hand to the back of his neck and sighed.

"She's been through a lot, not much mercy left in her after everything that's happened," he explained and then walked back inside. He was followed by both Red-Hood and Roy, and Starfire flew in after them as well. She quickly flew to Xyannis's side and started to ask her questions about this or that, as she did X glanced at his friends. Both Hood and Roy frowned and the three boys sighed as they followed the alien powerhouses…

00

(Present Day…)

Raven frowned as she looked at her alien friend, she'd seated herself on the bed as she told the story. However Raven was more than a little annoyed by said story, and especially the girl known as 'Xyannis'. She knew that a number of heroes were technically 'Legacy' heroes with prior incarnations, but she'd never imagined Starfire would become one of them.

"So there was another Tamaranean princess that took over as 'Starfire' while you were missing," Raven summarized and Starfire nodded her head. "Okay that certainly explains why you said 'future Starfire'," the dark bird mused then frowned, "although I'm not entirely sure if I like the one that took over for you or not," she admitted mostly to herself as she thought about this new 'Starfire'.

To here it felt like something about Xyannis was a little… off. She was friendly, but she didn't seem to care she'd taken Starfire's name. The brief 'sorry' she gave had sounded lackluster to Raven and maybe even a little annoyed. Further from their brief interaction and what little of her personality she was able to gleam from it, she felt that the Tamaranean was actually much more similar to Blackfire than Starfire.

"Xyannis went through much friend," Starfire replied with a soft sigh. "She did not escape after a few short years, she was held by them for a decade," the alien powerhouse reminded. Raven grimaced, she could scarcely imagine how Xyannis life had been growing up as a slave. Especially since her father had tried, and apparently failed, to save her when they took all the other princesses.

Not to mention how she must've reacted when her family was killed…

' _She must've had a lot of anger just building up inside her while she was growing up,'_ the dark bird mused. _'It'd be no wonder that she might be more violent and aggressive than Starfire,'_ she admitted to herself. Starfire at the least still had a few family members left in her sister and brother, if her brother was still alive anyways. Though Raven could only imagine how much Xyannis absolutely hated Blackfire…

"I'm going to guess Xyannis hated Blackfire with a passion," Raven noted and Starfire nodded her head grimly.

"She blamed her for the death of her family and many other things, from what I understand they did not get along," Starfire replied. Raven nodded and then paused.

"Sorry Star, Robin just decided we need to 'help you' and is sending us out to investigate," the dark bird stated. However Starfire smiled at her friend.

"It is no problem," she replied, "I expected as much from him," she admitted. Raven idly raised a brow but didn't pry. Instead her soul-self flew up and into the distance while the young Tamaranean glanced at the white dress she'd found in the room. She looked from it to herself and then shook her head. "What are you up too Komand'r?" she wondered to herself and then thought of what Xyannis had told her.

"You seem oddly thoughtful, little sister," she heard from the door and frowned. She turned to see Blackfire with her arms crossed at the door to her room.

"I am merely attempting to understand what you hope to gain from this," Starfire replied. Blackfire's eyes sparkled and she smirked.

"What makes you think this is anything more than," she began only for Starfire to narrow her now glowing green eyes.

"Despite your opinion of me, sister, I am not stupid," she growled, "the drenthaxx are allies to the Citadel, and our world is under their 'protection'," Starfire reminded with air quotes. "I do not believe you would desire our world be further damaged," she reminded her and Blackfire frowned.

"True," she admitted after a moment. She then walked into the room and glanced out at the fleet of ships, but focused on the devastation of their world instead. "I also admit that I was a bit… hasty, when I aided their plans," Blackfire admitted with a frown. "I never wanted our planet to bleed as it has, I was just angry," she admitted more to herself than to the younger alien.

"Is that why you did not tell the Citadel where I was?" the redhead questioned. Blackfire rolled her eyes in response.

"No, you were all but banished to that rock so it didn't matter to me what you did there," she admitted with a roll of her wrist. Starfire narrowed her eyes in response.

"Then why call me back and risk the Citadel noticing?" she pressed. However Blackfire merely chuckled and then turned to face her younger sister.

"Don't bother trying to intimidate me little sister," she stated. She then walked over to the girl and flicked her nose. "My guards might dislike me, but they are all loyal to the grand ruler," she reminded the girl. Starfire twitched and narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I've got everything I ever wanted in the palm of my hand," she stated and then turned with a flourish of her cape. She then paused to look at Starfire condescendingly.

"Oh yeah, and happy birthday, little star," she stated as she closed the door…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN** :

STATIC…

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STATIC…

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Deep below Happy Hands Sanitarium is a basement. Within that basement is a set of dirty equipment. Among that equipment is a burner heating a boiling pot of water with the needles of a strange set of syringes attached to a pair of gloves submerged beneath the bubbling water. In the background a girl moves about, taking this compound or that chemical and mixing them together in beakers and vials.

She mutters to herself, her visible skin deathly pale, dressed in a tattered and patched brown 'tunic' that reached mid-thigh, an attached brown hood is pulled over her head and a simple rope is tied around her waist with an old oil-lantern hanging from the back. Her face is left mostly in shadow by her hood, however an old gasmask is visible over her lower face with a stylized skull painted over it. Her hands and feet are bound in bandages, while she idly adjusts the straps of a brown backpack.

She paused suddenly and twitched, her neck gave a sickening crack as she lowered and then crawled towards the camera on all fours. She looked up through the shadows of her hood and her purple eyes locked onto it. She reached out, tilting her head to the side in what looked like a painful turn and narrowed her eyes. She then physically ripped the camera away from its stand and held it up.

"He-hello there," she whispered with a sinister tone. "H-How are you all today?" she questioned as she turned her head the opposite way. "M-Me? You d-don't know? Oh, well I'm the Scarecrows daughter, Scare Crone," she stated with a hand to her chest. She then looked up and turned to her boiling water. "O-One second," she muttered as she rapidly approached the heated water.

She pulled the syringe needle tipped gloves free and then started to attach them to a pair of long tubes, which were also attached to a pair of straps with an odd container at one end. She strapped the straps to her biceps as she slips her hands into the gloves. She flexes her hands for a moment and then started to hum to herself. Eventually the hum turned into a familiar tune.

"One two, he's coming for you," she sung as she stumbled her way to the door, "three four, better lock your door," she continued to sing as she walked into a hallway, "five six, grab your crucifix," she continued as she began to drag the needles on her gloves along the walls. "Seven eight, better stay up late," she sang as she approached a bathroom, "nine ten, never sleep again," she finished as she entered the bathroom.

She found her eyes drawn to a mirror, it was partially cracked and showed a disjointed vision of herself. In each of the cracked off segments of the mirror, the girl could see different versions of herself. One in a cat suit, one in a purple coat, one in a green domino mask, one with a monocle, and of course there was also herself. She twitched and then slowly approached the mirror and regarded the different versions of herself.

"So many faces that I wear," she breathed with a giggle, "which is true, which are spare," she finished as she slid down and sat on the cold tiled floor. She then dropped her arms and then looked to her syringe clad fingers. "Fear…" she murmured and then started to chuckle, "what is it that I fear," she briefly wondered. "What things keep me up at night and haunt my most secure thoughts?" she wondered as she flexed her fingers.

"What nightmares haunt me, what things do I hide from…" she continued to wonder and then grinned monstrously. Her eyes then widened as she jabbed herself with the needles. "LETS FIND OUT SHALL WE!" she exclaimed madly as haunting soulless laughter suddenly echoed in the very depths of her mind…

STATIC…

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STATIC…

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Dreams, it all started with dreams. She had always had dreams, which featured such fantastical adventures. Sometimes she was in a world with only female super heroes, and she was a villain, she thought it was fun. She had other dreams, ones where she was in a world where heroes were celebrities, ones where she was in the future, ones where she was in the past. Each world was different in its own way… yet in each one…

She heard it… laughter… always laughter… so much insane… hollow… soulless laughter… Tonight she saw darkness, then her vision returned and she saw herself… yet not herself. Her skin was white as snow, short hair a vibrant green; her eyes were just as vibrant and somehow just as green, while her lips were red as rubies. Her outfit was odd, made in a style she couldn't quite place… and had no time to examine in detail…

She felt as a heavy body slammed into her and knocked her through the window. She heard the shattering of glass as she was sent sprawling. She looked up and saw a painting of Bruce Wayne on a wall, and Batman standing in front of it. "Oh _**Timmy**_ ," she whispered, but it wasn't really her as she flipped forward. "I remember when you were a _**kid**_ ," she remarked as she pushed her feet into 'Batman / Timmy' and knocked him back.

"You were so much _**fun**_ back then," she remarked, yet it wasn't her, not as she lunged forward and punched at the man yet he moved to the side to avoid the hit. "You were so much _**happier**_ ," she continued as she leaned forward to look into the white lenses of his mask with a wide smile.

"I was naïve," he replied in a low growl as he kicked her bodily off of him. She grunted and flew back as he got up to one knee. "I was stupid," he continued as she heard a click. "But I grew up," he stated solemnly as held a gun to her face. She snorted and then laughed as she looked at the 'dark knight' with an insane grin.

"Ha… you're still _**mad**_ about old mister **Pennyworth** , aren't you?" she noted then glanced up, a vision of a blond girl appeared in her mind. "And Bette Kane, and well…" she paused as her mind started to drift, turning to dozens of nameless faces. "All those policemen and women," she finished with a giggle. The 'batman' looked at her with a grim frown as he spoke.

"No one else dies by your hand," he stated. She giggled in response.

"The _**other**_ set of Titans won't be happy with you," she noted then grinned cheekily, "especially your ex-girlfriend," she remarked with another giggle. Her smile dropped as he chambered a round and all but pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead.

"You're not smiling anymore, Duela," he stated firmly… but that wasn't her name…

"Well, my daddy always said, 'Duela Dent! If you're gonna go out…" she began, "go _**out**_ with a," she never finished as she felt a blossoming pain at her forehead that defied imagination and a deafening bang echoed into infinity… she felt her body seize up and her heart stop… then nothing…

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

 _AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_

STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP

Her eyes opened, she was running, down a dark alley and away from something. It was cold and dark and raining and miserable. She was scared, but she didn't know why. She tried to climb a fire escape when she saw the dark figure look up at her. They fired a beam of energy that burned through the metal of the ladder she was on and dropped her back down to earth.

She fell on top of some garbage before she rolled over to the side as the ladder nearly came down on top of her. She landed with a grunt, and looked to her reflection… It was her again, yet also not her. A messy shock of red hair on her head, alabaster skin, ruby red lips, and brilliant amethyst eyes. She could make out her mostly purple clothes, but turned from her reflection to look at the man towering over her…

"This world is not yours," he intoned as he stepped forward, "Your presence in it is not tolerated," he continued as he leveled his weapon on her and she raised an arm, "The penalty is _**death**_ ," he uttered lowly. However before he could fire someone swung in and slammed into him from the side. Dressed in what she figured bikers might wear with a bright red helmet with white lenses for eyes.

"To each his own," he quipped as he kicked the figure to the side and landed in a crouch. "I'm not too tolerant of gun-wielding crazies myself," he declared then paused. The man he kicked barely budged and was dressed in strange clothes. He was tall and imposing with interesting hair and bright glowing red eyes. She didn't care; she palmed her way back to her feet and made to escape.

"What are you," the man in leather breathed.

"The Multiverse's only hope," she heard the Monitor reply grimly. A moment later she felt a shot hit her in the back and she fell forward. She hit the ground and her vision blurred. Her ears rang and she started to panic… she couldn't breathe… she couldn't think… yet the horrible laughter remained…

HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME

 _AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_

A DREAM A DREAM A DREAM A DREAM

It was nighttime, the sky was dark and there was water everywhere she looked. She found herself in a disjointed world, laughter echoed off of every surface. A glance around showed horribly twisted ebony figures across from her, their moths and eyes filled with a vile yellow light that seeped out into the air like smog. They seemed to roar or shriek as they shot strange boney implements at each other.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ NOT FUNNY _**AH HA HA HA**_

Then several of the strange darts flew at her instead.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ I'M SCARED _**AH HA HA HA**_

Before they could reach her, two figures got in the way. They were black and misshapen like the others, but unlike the others she saw a strange pink light in their eyes and mouths. It was strange, but horrifying as that pink light turned black and they fell to the ground. She saw a flash of light and too familiar people appeared in front of her instead. She felt her breath hitch as the flash passed and the world turned into a nightmare once more.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ I'M SO SORRY _**AH HA HA HA**_

She looked to her hands, broken, shattered, not what they were supposed to be. She wrapped her wrong arms around herself and fell to the side and cried. The other monsters fired at one another, insane and yet somehow scared. Then she heard the laughter again, it grew louder and louder and louder as she sobbed. She gripped at her head as it began to pound and the laughter echoed louder and louder.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ I SHOULDN'T BE LAUGHING _**AH HA HA HA**_

She felt it bubble forth as she saw her face in the water. What she saw was more like a twisted parody of her, broken and shattered just like her arms. She closed her eyes and hoped it'd stop, hoped that it was all just another dream. But as she opened her eyes it was still there, and the laughter echoed once more. She bit her lip as a slow chuckle echoed from her throat…

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ I CAN'T STOP _**AH HA HA HA**_

She half sobbed half chuckled as she looked among the bodies all around her.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ WHAT A RIOT! _**AH HA HA HA HA**_

She saw both the ones that protected her, and the others who shot at her.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ FUNNY _**AH HA HA HA**_

She looked to her side and took note of a ramshackle gas grenade at her side filled with a yellow-ish powder…

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ SO FUNNY _**AH HA HA HA HA**_

She felt something deep within her mind break and shatter, and the millions of pieces scattered…

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ IT'S ALL SO FUNNY _**AH HA HA HA**_

She gripped her crimson hair tightly as she suddenly burst out into raucous laughter.

 _ **AH HA HA HA**_ IT'S ALL SO FUCKING HILARIOUS! _**AH HA HA HA**_

 _AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_

ERROR … ERROR

 _AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_

ERROR … ERROR

A certain redhead woke up with a scream, tears streaming down her face. She blinked and then touched her cheeks. "Why am I crying?" she murmured and then looked around curiously. She was in her 'office' of sorts once more, and she rubbed at her eyes and then stretched her arms outwards. "Well whatever," she declared and then hopped onto her feet as she casually grabbed a vial out of her coat.

She paused and took notice of the camera.

"Hello everyone!" she declared cheerfully, "sorry I'm late but I must've fallen asleep or something," she noted with a confused frown. She then scratched at her hair. "But the weird thing is I don't remember falling asleep," she admitted. She paused to consider that for a moment then shrugged as she injected the contents of the vial into herself with an odd looking gun, then shuddered as her skin turned bleached white and her hair vibrant red.

"In any case, welcome back readers and reviewers!" she declared with her arms outstretched. She then noticed her attire and frowned. "Huh… why am I wearing this?" she wondered and then walked to the side where a wardrobe and changing screen were located. She hummed a tune to herself as she stepped behind the screen then started to casually toss her clothes off and onto it.

She then reached out for her 'Joker's Daughter' outfit and slipped it on and walked back out from behind the screen. She then grinned widely at the camera. "So anyways, great to have you all back again! Now we can finally begin the Q and A!" she declared only to pause and glance up. "Finally? But I only just woke up!" she complained with a frown, the author was silent and Duela let out a sigh.

"Anyways," she murmured then grinned, "I feel I should make a note that none of the Tamaraneans in this chapter are OC's. Xyannis, Prince Karras, Taryia, Myand'r, Luand'r, Alisand'r, and Ryand'r are all real Tamraneans from DC lore. Prince Karras was even Starfire's first husband, I shit you not, while Xyannis was an 'evil' Tamaranean for a while, but fits as the 'dark' Starfire from The Outlaws," the girl explained in one breath.

"The author hated how Starfire was portrayed in Outlaws, but at one point genuinely believed she might be Xyannis using the name since Xyannis dressed in a similar way, was just as cruel, overtly sexual, and such. So yeah, if any of you liked the Outlaws version of Star, it's Xyannis in this story, while normal Starfire remains as she is in the show with a few bits of her comics self integrated into her," the redhead continued.

"Also, to anyone whose curious Blackfire was even more of a bitch in the cartoon than she is here and didn't care she'd decimated their planet, worked with the Gordanians several times after it, and even had all her powers. No seriously, in the cartoon Blackfire had all the powers of a tamaranean, she was jealous of Starfire because she was 'prettier' than her, and her brother Ryand'r was going to inherit the throne," the redhead explained.

"So yeah, she was even more of a bitch if you can believe it. The author felt that version of her didn't need to be around so brought in some tidbits from the early Blackfire from the comics to make her a bit more sympathetic, without removing how much of a bitch she can be when she wants too. This is also why she looks different, as it's supposed to show she's a different version than the one in the show," she continued.

"Finally, the thing about Tamaraneans treating their friends as lovers and believing in soul mates is actually cannon in the comics. Or it was back in the eighties onward, we're not sure if it still holds true in New 52 or not, but that was actually a thing and is why Starfire, when she was married to prince Karras, was still kind of dating Dick, and why Karras was with Taryia at the same time," she finished and then exhaled a breath.

"So yeah, that means threesomes and the like between Tamaraneans are a real thing," she added with an amused grin, "Take from that what you will while the spirit of Jiraiya tries desperately to reincarnate on that planet," she added and then laughed to herself and wiped at a mock tear at her eye. She then inhaled and exhaled, before she grinned widely.

"Now for the reviews! First up is…" she paused and giggled to herself, "Oh c'mon **D N Walker** , I have to make a back to the future reference! It's in my blood and DNA and…" she paused and widened her eyes, "I totally can't think of one now! Dammit!" she exclaimed and then sat back with a pout. She then held up her phone and flicked it to see who else had left a review she could answer.

" **Kiue Jin** , thanks for that, works great, and it's nice to have you back!" the redhead stated and then hummed. "Hello again **OBSERVER01** , Angel is technically in the cartoon, but her back story was made up by the author to give her more depth than just being Kyd Wykkyd's girlfriend. Given the Gordanian ship was never fully explored and even the one in the comics had more than just Starfire on it, this felt appropriate!"

" **axc-o** , nice to hear from you, sorry to hear 'bout your evil twin, they can be so annoying ya'know," she stated and nodded her head. "The physical resemblance to Mercy was intentional, in one of the early drafts of the last chapter Naruto was even going to give her the nickname 'Mercy' but would feel it was too apt and since she liked it would rarely call her by it," the redhead explained then frowned at the end with a scratch of her head.

"Ummm… what unsavory version of me are you talking about dude? Is it the one that works with Nazi's in the Bombshell's universe? Cause she's pretty nasty, I mean those teeth are just yuck!" she remarked with a gag. She then scratched at her crimson hair as she flicked the screen on her phone. " **Noctus Of The Thousand Blades** , what accent? I don't have an accent!" she declared and then hummed.

"Something screwy is going on here," she grumbled to herself then looked back to her phone. "Hellow there **PugTheMagician** , my silver age incarnation used a 'Penguin's daughter' persona once, back in the day. But of course I'm a skilled tailor, I have to have a few hobbies outside of chemistry ya'know! As for Giz, well, his younger self is an ass to Naruto because they aren't good friends yet, his older self is though!" she explained.

"Hey there **DocSlendy**! Glad you liked Angel, the author felt it made the most sense and it gives an excellent chance for Starfire to have a potential enemy besides Blackfire. I mean c'mon! In all of DC Starfire's enemies are always connected to the Titans, why can't she have her own badguy, err… girl… for once?!" the redhead wondered and then hummed and held her phone up once more.

"Thanks **Nightmaster000** , the author really wanted to make the characters stand out as their own people this time around!" she declared cheerfully with her arms outstretched and fell back with a yelp. "I'm okay!" she exclaimed before she got back up and brushed herself off. "Actually **Devilscreed** , she's only physically similar to Mercy, but yes her background is the author's own adaptation of the character," she stated with a nod.

"Willow is the Author's own OC, has been for years, though originally she was only going to be athletic, he felt this wouldn't mesh well with a gamer, so gave her an ability to physically adapt to trauma like the X from Dark Horse Comics. But finally he changed it to where she could grow armor because her father Two Bit can, but altered it to be a kind of armor she can control the appearance of," the girl explained and then hummed.

"Possibly, XLTerrestrial had no story for where he came from, and I'm fairly certain at least a few other characters who could physically resemble some alien species. But for the moment at least we might leave it ambiguous if any of them survived the explosion that downed the Gordanians ship. I mean that had to take out a lot of the survivors if they didn't have a ton of Gordanians still running around," she replied.

"Thanks **Toa Naruto**! The author was going for the whole 'Dove' theme when he designed her. It seemed to fit with what kind of character she was going to be. It also helped he wanted someone to be a medic, but he felt Seemore was…" she paused to roll her wrist, "well his medical training was literally pulled out of nowhere so meh," she noted with a shrug of her shoulders.

"To be fair, Jinx's crush on Stone came after the guy beat her and her team up, and you've got to admit that getting a crush on the guy who literally laid you and your team out is kind of suspect," the redhead intoned with a nod, "You'll find out when we go back to earth, Wally is more based on YJ Wally with a bit of his 'Justice League' self rolled in to make him a bit more friendly," the redhead began and then grinned widely.

"Him flirting with Raven is actually a bit of a reference to when they dated… no seriously that was actually a thing. This was back _way back_ when the New Teen Titans first formed in the nineteen eighties," the girl began and then scratched her head, "but in that instance Raven had used her powers to implant the desire to do so into him so that he'd help her convince the Titans to work together," she admitted with a nervous titter.

"Yeah… people tend to forget Raven would do stuff like that back then, sure she regretted it later, but at the time she was desperate to stop Trigon so when she's backed into a wall she is willing to bend her morals to get what she wants," the redhead explained and then looked to her phone with a hum. She flicked her phone and then paused and clicked her tongue with a sigh.

"He can't do that either **CeruleanKnight** ," she noted with a shake of her head, "The shell would keep the chakra inside and blow him up, not his surroundings. Further it takes all the internal chakra and converts it into an explosion, basically meaning its from the inside out not the other way around. The Daibakuha would basically be like that Self-Destruct technique they sometimes use in DBZ," she explained and then moved on.

" **Snipa** … what bad day?" Duela questioned and then glanced around warily. She then shook her head and breathed out a sigh, "A-Anyways, lets move on then shall we!" she stated hurriedly. "The thing is **Happy1K1nob1** that Naruto lived his whole live selflessly and he feels like he's being selfish, we know he isn't, but with how he was raised that's how he feels," the redhead explained and then clicked her tongue.

"Uh… hello there **Guest** , I guess Naruto is okay, haven't met this one in person yet but looking forward to when it happens!" the girl replied with a cheerful smile. She then hummed and tapped her chin. "I will admit I love his moxy! Unlike my dad, I like spunk!" she stated with a nod and a grin. The clown princess of crime then glanced at the time on her phone and pouted.

"Oh shoot it's time to go," she noted and then waved to the camera. "Till next time everyone!" she exclaimed and then grinned, "keep on smiling!"

STATIC…

STATIC…

00


	9. Red-X and The Outlaws PT2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 8**_ : _**Red-X and The Outlaws PT. 2**_ …

00

(Jump City, California…)

Donna Troy was an Amazonian Warrior, in her youth she'd ventured to Man's world with her sister Diana and started to explore. Unlike her sister who wanted to be an ambassador to Man's world, Donna wanted to explore it. She wanted to see what was there and learn what things had changed. Diana had been against it, but their mother had been surprisingly accommodating so long as Diana kept an eye on her.

Her sister had reluctantly agreed to bring her to Man's world, and then promptly lost her as she went to explore the city known as 'New York'. Admittedly, she'd been a bit boy-crazy at first, having never so much as seen one before she'd found herself oddly smitten with any boy she laid eyes on. This included openly saying she loved the first boy who talked to her for more than five seconds…

' _Hera that's so embarrassing to think about now,'_ she thought with an amused smile. She had taken a seat on the Titan's crescent shaped couch and sighed. She wasn't sure what it was, but her mind was drifting back to her early days wandering through Man's world. She recalled one of her first real 'crushes' had been on Roy Harper, AKA Speedy, and that it had ended in total disaster.

She and Roy had gone on one date, one, but on said date she had accidentally destroyed Green Arrow's car. Said car had been loaned to Roy by Green Arrow for said date, but had been stolen by 'The Demon Dragster' and she had been a bit too rough with it before the scarlet archer had yelled at her. Needless to say, she was a bit sensitive at the time and they had been awkward around one another ever since.

' _Here's hoping things have changed a bit,'_ the girl inwardly hoped. Though it was probably unlikely, given how much that weird car had likely cost Green Arrow to repair. The thought of which caused Donna to crinkle her nose and frown. _'Why do so many of these people have such odd vehicles?'_ she briefly wondered to herself. Then again, she mostly meant heroes, and why their vehicles had to be so… weird…

Normal cars made sense to her; they were essentially faster chariots for the public to use. They served a purpose, one she could understand, but it was other kinds of vehicles that had always confused her. She understood the need for mobility, neither Batman nor Green Arrow could fly or were particularly fast on foot, but some of the odd gadgets in their vehicles just seemed overly silly.

She'd never say that to Batman's face of course, she was an Amazonian warrior, she was brave in battle, courageous against impossible odds, and fearless even in the face of death… that said, no one was that brave! Something about facing off against the Batman was simply terrifying, why Diana was so smitten with him Donna didn't know; she personally felt that he was creepy…

She shook her head of such thoughts as she noticed a light blink on one of the computers in the OPS Center of Titans Tower. She then glanced to the side as she saw Kid Flash, her friend Wally West, hurry into the room and start to check the computer. He clicked his tongue and hummed as he brought up a message. He read its contents for a few moments and then frowned deeply.

"Garth says he can't make it, something about an underwater base of some kind he needs to investigate for Aquaman," the speedster reported to Donna. The Amazon frowned in response; she'd actually been looking forward to seeing her old friend again. While Garth had always been the skittish shy one of their group she'd heard he'd really come into his own in the last few years. _'I suppose we both have,'_ she mused to herself.

"However," Wally began with a raised finger, Donna frowned when he paused for dramatic affect.

"Get on with it Wally," she pleaded. The Speedster chuckled in response and nodded his head.

"Garth said he's sent a friend of his to help out," the redhead replied. Donna frowned in response. She could easily recall the limitations that Garth had had on the surface back when the first Titans teamed up. He'd needed to jump back into the water at least every other hour or so. Over time he'd managed to mostly remove that weakness but he did prefer to be underwater.

"But won't they have the same problem as Garth did when he first worked with us?" she questioned worriedly. Wally hummed in response and then shook his head.

"Nah, 'cording to Garth the guy is half surface-dweller, so he's basically like Aquaman, fine on land or in the sea," he replied. Donna nodded and then pushed herself onto her feet and brushed herself off.

"I suppose that's one worry off my mind then," she mused aloud. Wally nodded his head in agreement. Much as he liked Garth, he wasn't sure it'd be a good idea for any other normal Atalantean to try and get used to the surface world like he had done. "I'm disappointed that Garth isn't coming, but I suppose it'll be nice to meet a new friend," she remarked. Wally grinned in response.

"Totally," he noted and zipped off, he reappeared a moment later with a pair of mugs in his hands. He handed one of the mugs to Donan who looked at him with a smirk as he raised his own towards her. "Here's to the new guy, may he be just as awesome as Garth," he declared. Donna rolled her eyes then clinked her mug against the speedster's, who then proceeded to inhale his drink while she sipped at her own.

She frowned for a moment and glanced down at it.

"Why does Diana like these things so much?" she wondered. Wally wrapped an arm around her shoulders and grinned.

"Cause they're awesome!" he declared. Donna fixed him with a look.

"They taste terrible," she stated bluntly. Wally gasped and placed a hand to his chest.

"So brutal!" he declared. Donna smirked and rolled her eyes.

"I am an Amazon Warrior," she reminded him pointedly. Wally just grinned and then glanced at the computer terminal as another light began flashing. He zipped back to it and began to check what was going on as Donna approached from behind. "Something happening?" she questioned curiously. Wally hummed in response and then smirked.

"Nope, new guy's here," he replied. With that Wally zipped away and Donna quickly followed after him. She was in no way as fast as the speedster but she was able to move fairly quickly. She arrived in the lower levels of the tower soon after and then watched as Kid Flash opened up a moon pool in the hangar. From it she saw several bubbles start to rise to the surface and glanced to Wally curiously.

"Did you get the name of our guest?" she questioned. Before Wally could answer there was an explosion of water as a body leaped out of it. Both Donna and Wally turned to see who had arrived and saw a young man, roughly their age, with light brown skin, bright blond hair that was cropped short, ocean blue eyes, and visible gills, black tattoos on his arms, and webbed fingers and toes.

He was dressed in a red top with black stripes, a black harness with two visible handles, a belt with an A symbol, and a pair of navy blue pants with fins at the backs of his calves. The young man approached the two of them and then placed one fist into his hand and gave a curt bow. "Greetings, I am Kaldur'ahm," the young man reported and straightened up, "My friend Garth suggested that you might require some assistance," he noted.

Wally grinned and zipped over to the Atlantean and slipped an arm around his shoulders.

"Good to meet you Kaldur," he stated cheerfully, "I'm Kid Flash," he stated and then motioned to the Amazon. Donna had her arms crossed and a slim frown across her lips as she regarded 'Kaldur'. "This vision of loveliness is our resident Amazonian warrior, Wonder Girl," he stated. However the said Amazon frowned in response and then approached Kaldur herself.

"I much prefer any of my comrades to call me Donna," she admitted and offered a hand to Kaldur. "A pleasure to meet you," she stated with a soft smile. Kaldur glanced to her hand then returned the gesture.

"It is a pleasure," he replied and then glanced around the hangar curiously, "I must admit I am not sure what Garth expected of me, he was quite vague," the young man noted. He also wished that Garth hadn't been so distant lately, Tula really missed him but he was always so busy with his 'duties' as Aqualad that he had hardly visited the girl in recent months… he sighed and frowned to himself.

' _Perhaps it would have been better if I were the one to have taken the responsibility,'_ he briefly considered. The King of Atlantis, King Arthur, Aquaman, had offered the both of them the chance to follow him as his protégé. Kaldur had been too reluctant to accept the responsibility, and instead chose to continue his studies alongside his crush, Tula. Thus Garth had accepted the duty and responsibility of being Aqualad.

In the time since then, Garth had grown much more confident and sure of himself, but at the same time he had also become more distant. He was away from Atlantis for weeks or even months at a time. Kaldur had, on occasion, assisted his friend in matters that were otherwise too great for him to tackle alone. Despite this Garth rarely asked for his help and the occasions he was able to see his friend were rare.

The situation was far worse for Tula though, as she was clearly enamored with him…

"Don't worry 'bout it," Wally assured him with a dismissive wave. It drew the young Atlantean from his thoughts and he looked to Wally with a raised brow. "We just have to look after the city and deal with any bad guys who show up while the other Titans are away," he stated with a grin. Kaldur blinked and then hummed. He considered that and then considered that these 'Titans' had been in the city for some time.

That in mind they likely had a plethora of enemies, and if they were as organized as their 'base' suggested then they likely had files on said enemies. Given that they would be the 'Titans' for at least a short time it would be a prudent course of action to locate those files and learn what they could of their potential enemies. It only made sense as far as the young Atlantean was concerned.

"I see," Kaldur responded and then frowned in thought. "Then perhaps we should look at any records of these… bad guys… your Titans might have available to them," he suggested. Donna and Wally blinked and then glanced at one another.

"That's actually a really good idea," Wally remarked. Donna nodded her head in agreement. They'd actually just been using a 'wait and see' policy since the Titans left Jump City. Thus far it hadn't hurt but that was mostly because all they'd had to do was deal with a few minor robberies and one fire. It had literally been the slowest week in the history of Jump City.

"Anyways," Wally suddenly stated, "c'mon I'll show you around the place," the young Speedster stated as he lead the young man off into the tower. As he did Donna rolled her eyes and followed with a smile. _'Well it looks like Wally gets to try and show another one the joys of man's world,'_ she thought with a shake of her head. She then followed after the boys, mostly so she could keep them out of trouble…

00

(Tamaranean Dungeons…)

Robin struggled against two Tamranean guards as he was dragged into the depths of the castle. He then grunted as he was unceremoniously tossed into one of the many cells in the dungeon. He skidded for a moment and then sat up with a hand to his head. A glance up revealed his other friends, sans Starfire, were also in the cell. He looked at his friends for a moment and then sighed.

"So, I guess we're gonna miss the wedding," Beast Boy remarked with a chuckle.

"Not now B," Cy told his friend. "You okay man?" he asked Robin. The Boy Wonder was silent and then leaned back against the wall.

"I couldn't talk her out of it," he replied then palmed his face. "She has to marry him, for her people," he mumbled. Raven scoffed as she floated over and knelt down next to the boy wonder.

"No she doesn't," she informed. Robin sat up and looked at her curiously.

"It's all a lie man. The army, the war, everything," he explained and crossed his arms, "Blackfire set her up," he reported. Robin let out a low growl and stood up.

"Then we have to tell Starfire the truth," Robin asserted with narrowed eyes. However Raven inclined her head.

"Actually she already knows," she admitted. That caused the boys to look at her strangely and she sighed. "How many people in the galaxy actually knew Starfire was on Earth?" she questioned. Robin was silent for a moment while BB hummed.

"Uhhh… wasn't Blackfire the only one who visited or sent any messages?" the green teen noted. Robin and Cyborg glanced at him for a moment and then looked to one another in surprise.

"He's right," Cyborg admitted, "and since Star's a princess, so would Blackfire…" Cyborg continued to note aloud.

"Meaning she knew that Blackfire was the one who recalled her," Robin whispered to himself with a calculative expression. "She must've realized Blackfire was up to something and decided to find out what it was," he mused aloud.

"Not to mention she kept Blackfire from outright attacking Earth to get her with that 'Drenthaxx' army of hers," Raven remarked. Robin grimaced and nodded his head while Cyborg scoffed.

"Man I don't think that'd be much against Supes," he noted with a shake of his head.

"Maybe not, but Starfire hasn't exactly paid that much attention to all of our worlds different superheroes," Robin reminded his friends. He then started to pace around in the cell as he considered what was going on. "But why would Starfire go along with this wedding if she knows it's a sham?" the boy wonder muttered in question. He considered every possibility he could think of, till BB hummed.

"Ya'know, if the Tamaraneans are primarily a warrior culture, then doesn't that mean that Star can just challenge Blackfire for the crown in a duel or something," the green teen noted and got looks from his friends. "Dudes, I lived in Africa for a while, I met a surprising amount of warrior tribes while I was there and in other places while I was with the Doom Patrol," he offered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So wait… if Starfire knows she can challenge her, why hasn't she yet?" Cyborg wondered with a scratch of his head and Raven's eyes widened.

"Because she still has those ships!" the dark bird realized. It made sense, those Drenthaxx ships might not have a crew and thus be predictable but Blackfire had to have some way to control them. What was to keep the dark tamranean from using them on the innocent people of the planet if Starfire didn't go along with her little ploy! "Starfire's afraid that Blackfire will use those ships if she doesn't obey," the dark bird explained.

"Man that's twisted," BB noted and Cyborg nodded in agreement. Robin however smirked as that meant they had a way to stop the dark tameranean and help Starfire.

"Maybe, but that gives us a way to help," he stated and looked at his team. "First the Drenthaxx fleet needs to be disabled," he stated resolutely, "that'll be your job Cy, think you can handle it?" he asked and the Titanium Teen grinned in response.

"Man, give me an hour and those bugs'll be squashed," he stated as he punched his fist into his open palm. Robin nodded his head with a grin while Raven then hummed as a thought came to mind.

"We also have to deal with the guards," she remarked with a click of her tongue, "they might not like Blackfire on a personal level, but they are loyal to the Grand Ruler," she explained. Robin nodded his head in agreement.

"Beast Boy," he stated and turned to the green teen, "you and Raven will have to deal with the guards," he stated. The green teen nodded his head while the dark bird looked at the boy wonder with a curious expression.

"Then what'll you do?" she questioned.

"Stall that wedding for as long as I can so Cy can deal with the ships," he replied firmly. Raven looked at Robin with a bemused expression.

"Wouldn't helping Cyborg makes things go faster," she remarked then sighed as Robin looked at her with a blank expression, "cause you have, I don't know, explosives in that belt," she remarked with a finger pointed to his utility belt. Robin paused to look down at his belt, and then grimaced. That was a decent point, he also had some decent hacking abilities, sure Cy took most of them over in their day to day jobs but…

"R-right, your right Raven, I'll go help Cy deal with those ships," he admitted with a scratch of his head. He also wondered if maybe his attraction to Starfire was perhaps just a bit unhealthy… it certainly seemed to give him 'tunnel vision' at the worst possible times. _'These are thoughts for another time,'_ he decided with a shake of his head as he looked to BB and Raven.

"But that means you two will have to pull double duty and try and stall the wedding if you can," he reminded. Raven nodded her head in agreement while BB scratched his head.

"Fine," Raven stated and then formed a portal into the wall. "This'll take you down to the ships, try not to get caught again," the dark bird bade. Cyborg and Robin just smirked as they hurried through the portal while BB yelped as the portal closed.

"Wait! Dudes," BB called out only to droop in place and turn to Raven with a worried expression, "but like, how are we supposed to stall the wedding and deal with the guards at the same time!?" the green shape shifter questioned nervously. Raven smirked as she looked at the green skinned teen.

"You have the power to shapeshift into any animal right?" she remarked. BB silently nodded his head with a raised brow. "So wouldn't that mean you can, oh I don't know, turn into the biggest animal you can find on this planet or maybe just a T-Rex or something else that fits in the palace and go run wild for the hell of it," the dark bird noted with a smirk. BB made an Oh with his mouth and then grinned wickedly.

"Oh yeah, I can totally do that!" he declared with a mad twinkle in his eyes…

00

(Starfire's room…)

Starfire looked at herself with a slim frown. Of her usual attire, all that is visible is her wrist protectors and armband, while a small bit of her purple boots peak out from the end of the dress. She turned to either side to see how the dress looked on her from other angles then came to a stop. She sighed, while the white wedding gown was certainly beautiful, she wasn't planning on keeping it.

The tamranean powerhouse fell into her thoughts, considering how this night would go. She was certain her friends were going to try and stop the wedding; it was just in their nature, especially given Robin's clear distaste for the 'Sklurdge'. Not that Starfire blamed him; she shuddered at the mere thought of marrying that thing. Still, she had to wonder how they would interrupt the 'wedding'…

But what really weighed upon her was what else she had to do tonight.

She would have to literally crush Blackfire's dreams in order to stop her, and the redhead truly took no pleasure from that thought. 'I do not wish to do this to her, but I cannot allow her to simply do as she pleases,' the redhead thought with an internal sigh. Blackfire had been a horrible and cruel to her for nearly all her life, but even she deserved to have her dreams and not see them crushed into nothing…

Starfire paused her thoughts when she heard a heavy footfall and internally smiled. She turned to see her K'norfka, Galfore, smiling down at her. In his hands he held an M shaped crown vaguely similar to Blackfire's, although it didn't reach as low on the cheeks as her own did. The massive tamaranean lowered the crown to her face.

"I have never seen a more beautiful bride," he remarked as he set it in place. Starfire offered a weary smile and the big tamaranean frowned. "Something troubles you, my little bumgorf?" he questioned in concern. Starfire tried to smile, but it just didn't seem to reach her eyes as she patted the side of his hand.

"Nothing troubles me," she tried. However the big Tamaranean raised a brow.

"Do not attempt to fool an old k'norfka," he stated solemnly. He then crossed his arms, "I raised you," he reminded her and she looked to the side. He placed a hand onto her shoulder to help comfort her. It brought a small, but genuine, smile to her face. "I have always expected great things from you, my princess, and tonight is no exception," the big Tamaranean remarked. Starfire looked to the side and dipped her head.

"I will do what is right for Tamaran," she insisted. It was just that it would hurt her to have to hurt her sister. Not physically mind you, so long as she did no lasting damage she wouldn't care if she roughed Blackfire up a bit. It was the emotional damage she was sure to cause that was weighing on her heart. She then looked up as Galfore raised her chin to look her in the eye.

"You must do what is right," Galfore began, "in your heart," he declared with a thump of his chest. Starfire smiled once more, but knew the big Tamaranean didn't know what she was planning to do. While Tamaraneans were capable of inter-stellar travel, the number of them that wanted to leave Tamaran were exceedingly small. Few would know the details she was privy too or Blackfire likely wouldn't have gotten away with her scheme for so long…

They turned to the side at the sound of the doors opening. There they saw Blackfire, flanked at either side by her guards strut inside with that same arrogant smirk she'd worn since she told Starfire she'd be marrying the sklurdge. _'I find it almost strange I will greatly enjoy removing that look from her face,'_ Starfire admitted to herself. "You ready, sister dear?" the dark tamaranean questioned.

Starfire took a brief moment to exhale then shared a brief look with her k'norfka Galfore. Eventually she flew up to hug Galfore around the neck. The big Tamaranean returned the hug as gently as he was able and offered the girl a smile as she flew to Blackfire's side. However as they left his face fell and worry clouded his features. For a moment Galfore was idle, until he followed them at a sedate pace…

00

(Outside the palace…)

Robin and Cyborg moved from ship to ship swiftly and quietly. The Boy Wonder occasionally set up a bomb, but couldn't help but be distracted as he worried about Beast Boy and Raven. He knew they could take care of themselves against any garden-variety crook, but these were Tamaranean warriors. He was also concerned for Starfire, and afraid of what fate might befall her…

"Man would you please focus! We don't have time to space out if we wanna help Star!" Cyborg hissed as he rigged the latest ship to blow. Robin shook his head of his thoughts and frowned deeply. He idly pulled yet another set of explosives from his belt and set them up on the next ship over. He resisted the urge to think about the fact that Starfire could potentially be married to that… slug…

He could scarcely imagine the kind of things it'd…

' _Focus!'_ he mentally hissed and shook his head. This was really starting to look like a problem. He knew he was prone to brief bouts of stupidity where Starfire was involved, but he'd never thought it was this bad before. _'Normally I can at least keep a level head but it feels like all I can think about is Starfire right now,'_ he noted to himself. He also had to wonder why; they'd been in dangerous situations before after all.

' _We could actually lose her,'_ he considered to himself. However he then shook his head again and returned to his work.

"Moving," Cy stated as he moved to the next ship. Unlike the leader of the Titans, the titanium teen swiftly went to work on the next ship. He knew it was a little mean, but the spiky-haired teen needed to concentrate on the task at hand and not Starfire. He knew the two had a thing for one another, but all the skirting around the issue wasn't helping anyone in his opinion.

' _They're just making way too damn much drama,'_ he thought with an annoyed frown as he continued to wire up the next ship. _'If he likes her he needs to make a damn move 'fore someone else does,'_ the titanium teen remarked internally. If not he could hardly imagine how Robin might react. His clear jealousy thus far was a little annoying since the boy had never tried to ask Starfire out.

He idly noted he'd finished and moved on to the next ship. The number of them was staggering, but he was setting up each ship to blow by rewiring a few of the systems. He'd already run a diagnostic and it'd work. They'd go off after he set off a signal that would also detonate the bombs Robin was leaving on the other ships. The Titanium teen paused his thoughts to glance at the palace with a frown.

' _BB, Rae, stay safe,'_ the Titanium Teen thought as he moved on yet again…

00

(Palace Interior…)

Beast Boy, known by the Doom Patrol as Garfield Logan or just 'Gar', was not an idiot no matter how he acted. He just… really didn't want to be the smart guy or act all serious while with the Titans. Truth be told, after being with the overly serious Doom Patrol for so long, being among the Titans was a breath of fresh air. Sure, the team wasn't all jokes and laughs but they didn't make him take everything seriously.

Beast Boy appreciated that, and he loved them like a sec… no… third… a third family.

His first family had died when they were in the African wilds after he first received his powers. Beast Boy really didn't like to think of that time, or the following year where he was briefly titled the 'worlds greatest thief'. His time with the Doom Patrol was much better, not to mention Elastigirl was a friend of his mother's from the time where they acted together on that old 'Hello Megan' sitcom.

' _Wonder if anyone on the team's seen that show?'_ the green teen briefly considered as he ran through the halls of the palace. He was following Raven as she led him through the depths of the palace and towards the 'wedding'. He was sure to keep his eyes open and occasionally noticed an animal in the palace. _'I might use that one sometime,'_ he thought as they passed by a huge animal he'd seen earlier in their visit.

He paused his thoughts as several Tamaraneans charged at them with spears. _'You know, I have to wonder why none of these guys use Starbolts like Star does? Is it like some rare trait only the royals have? Were she and Blackfire experimented on by crazy aliens!? Where they the first to ever discover the ability!?'_ the green teen briefly wondered as increasingly outrageous ideas formed into his head.

He paused such thoughts Raven formed a shield around them. In a matter of seconds he'd already transformed into a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex. He felt Raven appear on his nose as the shield vanished and he leaned down towards the Tamaraneans. They looked at the massive green lizard with wide eyes while he 'smiled' to show off his long sharp teeth and let loose a bellowing roar.

The sheer force of his roar caused the Tamaranean Guards clothes to flutter and echoed throughout the building. Needless to say the Guards stared at him in terror. "This is the part where you run," Raven noted dryly. The guards took that moment to give a startled cry as he then lashed out with a bite and chased after them. BB internally laughed as he chased the terrified Tamaraneans into the depths of the palace.

' _Dude! Some warriors! Even I'm not this much of a wimp!'_ the green teen thought to himself laughingly. Though to be fair, he was fairly certain that most Tamaraneans had never seen a T-Rex before in their life. Although in his opinion if the 'Portkins' were as big as Star made out they should've at least been able to hold up a… BB paused his thoughts as several Starbolts flew at him from the end of the hall.

Raven swiftly formed a barrier to block the bolts while the green teen slid to a stop. He nearly toppled over as a result, but quickly kept himself on his two feet. While the T-Rex was large and imposing it left a lot to be desired in terms of agility. It was fast when it got started but turning was a major problem. Though thankfully T-Rex's didn't really have that stupid eyesight problem from Jurassic Park.

It was a great movie, but man was it wrong about a lot of Dinosaurs. Like Velociraptors for instance, the ones in the movie were too big! The ones in that movie had even looked more like a featherless Utahraptors! Bbut that didn't excuse the lack of feathers! Raptors had feathers! They were descended from a feathers species! Sure it wasn't as scary but… he shook his head of such thoughts with a frown.

He needed to concentrate and not focus on that silly movie.

Contrarily to popular belief, Beast Boy was not an idiot. His field of expertise was just a very situational one, IE, he knew a lot about animals. The number of times this mattered to the team was… actually slim to none, but he wasn't stupid! He just didn't have the kind of knowledge that the team needed on a day-to-day basis. However, said knowledge was useful for him to take into battle as an animal based shape shifter.

For instance, the truth was that as a T-Rex his eyesight was actually much better than a hawks was. He could easily see to the end of the hall and spot the guards hurling Starbolts at him from a distance. They looked a little different to the Guards he'd seen earlier. He internally put them as some kind of 'honor guard' or something as he wasn't quite sure how to type the different Guards of Tamaran.

' _Okay so some of them can use Starbolts… huh… guess my theories were wrong,'_ the green teen thought with a mental pout. Mostly because it always seemed like he was wrong about things these days. Especially when he was going on his random theories but hey, that was probably a good thing. He couldn't imagine how things would've gone if any of his theories about Red-X's identity were ture.

He suppressed those thoughts and roared once more before he stomped forward. Raven continued to form shields and barriers between them and the Tamaranean guards as he did. Beast Boy let out a snarl as he then reared his head to the side and used it to slam the Tamaranean Guards into the wall and then ram through the doors to the wedding. He just hoped that Robin and Cyborg had gotten everything set up outside.

Their entrance was met with startled guests rushing out of the way as Beast Boy roared loudly. Raven palmed her face and lightly rapped her hand against his absurdly thick skull with a deadpan expression. "We're not trying to make them attack us on sight," she reminded him pointedly. She then raised her hands and formed a black dome around them as several of the Tamaraneans started to fling random Starbolts at them.

Beast Boy ignored the dark bird as he transformed into a Brontosaurus then ducked low and swung his body into a mighty tail whip. His massive tail moved outwards and knocked several of the Tamaraneans away while Raven leaped up and vanished in a flash of black energy. As the dark bird vanished Beast Boy let out a primal roar as he swiftly shape shifted into a flea to leap high into the air and then transform back into a T-Rex.

Raven reappeared behind Starfire just as BB landed with a loud bang, her eyes glowing white and narrowed on Blackfire dangerously. "Just on the off chance we actually made it in time to say this," she began as she held up her communicator, "as friends of the Bride, we object to this union," she stated in a monotone and then smirked slyly, "Robin, Cyborg, now!" she stated and vanished as Blackfire fired her eyebeams at the girl…

00

' _Rae you are so lucky we were just got done,'_ Cyborg thought with a grin as he heard the go from Raven and looked to Robin. The boy wonder smirked as he held up the detonator and depressed the button. The two friends then watched the 'Drenthaxx' army explode in a blinding flash. The two idly raised their hands to high five before they turned and hurried to the Palace. It was finally time for them to finish things with Blackfire!

00

Blackfire snarled furiously as Raven reappeared behind Starfire. Her eye twitched as she tried hard not to growl furiously. _'Of course the humans would just have to stick their noises where they don't belong,'_ she thought as she ground her teeth together. She then paused as an explosion rocked the palace, the flames visible from a far window. The girl's eyes widened before she turned to Raven accusingly.

"What did you do?" she demanded furiously.

"Not much," she replied with a shrug, "just destroyed your 'Drenthaxx' army," she admitted with air quotes. Blackfire's eyes blazed scarlet while Raven looked to Starfire. "Meaning that she doesn't have anything to hold over you or your people Star," she remarked. Starfire smiled brightly to her friend then glared at Blackfire and ripped her dress off. It revealed she'd been wearing her usual outfit beneath it.

Raven blinked, "You… had that on under your wedding dress the whole time?" the dark bird questioned with a raised brow. Hadn't Robin done something similar with that one tuxedo when he went on a date with 'Kitten Moth'… In response Starfire mutely nodded and Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Of course you did," she muttered while Starfire shot at Blackfire and the two gripped one another's hands in a test of strength.

"You," Blackfire hissed as crimson power started to surge and roar around her body, "you dare challenge the grand ruler of Tamaran!?" she demanded. However Starfire dug her heels into the ground and narrowed her eyes.

"No, I challenge my sister," she responded then pushed her back until she was literally backed against the wall, "for the crown!" she declared as she kicked up and sent Blackfire flying into the air. She then ducked and shot up ramming into Blackfire who grit her teeth and stopped just shy of breaking through the ceiling. Blackfire snarled and then brought both hands together and slammed them into Starfire's spine.

The redhead gave a cry as she was sent flying down, only to halt her decent and look up as Blackfire tossed her cloak to the side. The older Tamaranean then formed crimson starbolts into her hands and grinned nastily. "All right little sister," she hissed, eyes blazing scarlet as she placed her feet onto the ceiling. "Allow me to finally put you in your place!" the girl roared as she hurled dozens of Starbolts down at the redhead.

Starfire flipped to the side and quickly flew out of the way of the hail of Starbolts and then formed several of her own and turned. She then began to hurl her bolts at her sister from the side and scored several hits that created a dust cloud. She breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, only to gasp when she saw Blackfire immerge from the dust cloud completely unscathed.

"The jewele of Charta," she remarked as she tapped the crimson red gemstone on the chest of her breastplate. The gemstone flared white as the girl's eyes blazed a furious red. "I'm invincible!" she exclaimed and then launched herself at Starfire. The younger alien dodged a swift punch from her sister only to gasp as she twisted into a kick and sent her flying threw a coat of arms at the back of the auditorium.

"Besides, you'll always be my little sister," she said mockingly, a hand on her hip, "I mean c'mon, I'm older than you, stronger than you, and literally invincible! What hope do you have against the likes of me?" she questioned. However Starfire pulled herself from the rubble with a scowl.

"There is some truth in what you say," she admitted as she got up and narrowed her eyes. Her eyes began to spark with energy as she grit her teeth furiously, "but I am not so little anymore!" she roared as she fired her optic-bolts at the older girl. Blackfire blinked in surprised and then lunged out of the way with a yelp. Starfire then held a Starbolt in either hand before they elongated into a pair of energy blades.

The girl then launched herself into the air with a roar and swung her arms at Blackfire with practiced ease. Blackfire's eyes widened in surprise as she avoided the 'Star-Sabers' and then caught the girl's wrists. "What is this?!" she demanded with wide eyes. A better question in her mind was why hadn't she figured out how to do it first!?

"You are not the only one with the new tricks!" Starfire declared as she fired an optic blast that sent Blackfire tumbling back. The dark tamaranean slammed into and threw a column and sat up with a hand to her head. She then looked up as Starfire came down at her and grabbed the column only to swing it at her sister. The younger girl maneuvered to the side and then swung her arms to cut the column into pieces before lashed out with a kick to her sister's face.

On the sidelines, BB stared with wide eyes.

"Dude!?" Beast Boy exclaimed with stars in his eyes, "since when can Star do that!? That's the coolest thing I've ever seen!" the green teen demanded. Raven just blinked and muttered a 'god dammit X,' under her breath. It was her opinion that X was responsible for any crazy changes the girl had gone through and thus any strange abilities that popped up were his fault as well.

"What was that?" Beast Boy questioned and Raven looked at him askance…

"Uhh… no idea," she offered a bit sheepishly. BB stared at her for a moment then turned as Robin and Cyborg arrived.

"Starfire!" Robin exclaimed and rushed to help the alien powerhouse, only for Galfore to stop him with an arm.

"Hold!" he ordered and Robin looked at him with a scowl, "if anyone interferes the challenge is void. The princess will lose," he explained and Robin winced and looked to the side. However he then looked up as Cyborg placed a hand onto his shoulder.

"'Sides, our girl can handle herself," he stated confidently. Robin gave a single nod and then turned to watch the two sisters pensively.

Blackfire grunted and then kicked some ruble off of herself as she stood up and saw Starfire come at her with a swing of her Star-Sabers. She then ducked out of the way and punched her in the solarplexus. Starfire gave a gasp of pain and lurched into a position to grasp at her midriff, only for Blackfire to twist into a kick that sent her flying. She then came out of the maneuver on both feet with a smirk.

Starfire righted herself in midair and then wiped at her bleeding lip with a frown.

"You have grown stronger," she remarked and Blackfire laughed and smirked.

"Fun fact deary, the enhanced variant of Tamaranean strength is directly proportionate to our normal muscle mass," Blackfire noted and then looked at her arms, then Starfire's. "And correct me if I'm not mistaken, but who between us has more muscle mass now?" she questioned with a raised brow. She gave the redhead no time to answer as she shot like a dart and slammed the girl through the nearest wall.

"Wait what does that mean?" Beast Boy demanded. Galfore grunted in response.

"The Tamaranean 'super-strength' is activated by an emotion like the rest of our abilities. A Tamaranean is able to increase said strength by adding muscle mass, it's a quick and efficient way of increasing our strength though few see it as necessary given our already impressive strength," the massive Tamaranean explained while the Titans heard the sounds of battle and a few stray red or green starbolts.

"So wait, how much of an increase are we talking?" Robin questioned. Cyborg hummed in response and rubbed his chin.

"Are you guys about as strong as a human of your height and weight without the buff from your powers?" the titanium teen questioned. Galfore arched a brow but nodded his head and Cyborg hummed. His computer enhanced mind went to work calculating the kind of strength Starfire had normally, and then went to what Blackfire would have and… "oh that is not good," he admitted with a grimace.

"Why?" Robin questioned. Cyborg hummed.

"Star can lift about ten to fifteen tons on average," he replied.

"So?" Beast Boy questioned.

"Given the increased physical mass, which appropriately increase the proportionate amount of strength Blackfire has at her disposal, I'd say she can lift maybe… double that or more," he replied with a frown, Raven's eyes widened and she looked to where the two sisters were fighting with clear worry.

"Meaning that if Blackfire is hitting her with the full scope of her strength, then she's getting about thirty tons of force with every punch," Raven realized and Galfore nodded his head gravely. Cyborg frowned as he saw Starfire grab and slam Blackfire into the ground only for an eyebeam to send her flying as Blackfire got up without a scratch.

"To put it in perspective, those punches would turn any of us into paste," he murmured and then frowned. "Yet it almost looks like Starfire isn't doing much of anything to Blackfire, yet Starfire looks run through a ringer," the titanium teen noted with a frown. Galfore nodded with a grunt.

"Tamaranean invulnerability," Galfore explained with his arms crossed, "it allows us to shrug off physical attacks effortlessly," he stated with a nod then narrowed his eyes as he saw Blackfire grab Starfire by her hair and toss her to the side with a laugh. "However Blackfire has further bolstered this ability with the Jewel of Charta, essentially making her invincible," the big Tamaranean explained and Titans looked to their friend worriedly.

"Meaning that Blackfire has the advantage in that she can potentially outlast Starfire while beating her to within an inch of life just for the fun of it," Robin grit out furiously and Galfore gave a grave nod. They then watched as Blackfire kicked Starfire back into the room and flew inside as well. The two Tamaranean sisters glared at one another, one with a condescending smirk, the other with pure determination.

"You really are stubborn, little star," Blackfire noted. Starfire merely narrowed her eyes in response. "But then again, what should I expect from the likes of you," the dark Tamaranean remarked as she then launched herself at Starfire. The girl grabbed her sister in midair as the two struggled against one another. "Always father and mother's favorite," she remarked and slammed a fist across Starfire's face.

"Mother tried to be there for you as well," Starfire reminded her. Blackfire scoffed.

"Ha! That's rich! As I recall, sister dear, she blamed me for your stupid pets dying!" she snarled and head butted Starfire back. The redhead flew back into a spin with a yelp until Blackfire arrested her momentum by grabbing her by the ankle. "And don't get me started on how it was always you who was destined to be the crown princess," she growled and then twisted and threw the girl into the dirt.

"I studied tactics and sciences to the point my eyes bled!" she growled as she hurled a Starbolt at her sister. The younger Tamaranean rolled out of the way as Blackfire's eyes began to blaze with pure fury. "I trained until I could barely move!" she roared and unleashed a beam of heat and energy that tore through the ground. Starfire leaped out of the way of it and then looked up as Blackfire started to grind her teeth.

"And yet no matter what, nothing I did could ever prove to father that I was worthy to rule!" she roared as she formed a pair of crimson Starbolts into her hands. "All he ever cared about was perfect precious little Koriand'r!" she grit out as she slammed her hands together and fired a wide beam of energy at the younger Tamaranean. Starfire swiftly held up her hands and grit her teeth as she dug her heels into the ground.

As the energy passed she looked to her burned hands and then up to Blackfire who landed and then lunged forward to grab her by the throat. "Well," she began and grinned nastily, "despite it all, now I'm the grand ruler, and I've got to say," she began with a slight pant and a feral grin, "it feels so good to be the empress!" she declared as she slammed a fist into Starfire's sternum that sent her flying back.

The girl bounced across the floor several times before she finally halted and groaned. Blackfire chuckled darkly as she flew forward and then landed in front of the younger girl with her arms crossed. She then narrowed her eyes when she saw her sister move and look up at her with defiant eyes. Starfire slowly got up into a kneeling position and looked up through panting breathes as her sister looked at her with a grin.

"There we go, right where you belong," she noted mockingly and placed a foot down on the girl's head, "on your knees before me," she stated. However Starfire twitched at that as her eyes suddenly began to glow with pure primal fury and she gripped Blackfire's ankles with her literally burning hands.

"You may rule this planet," she hissed as she tossed Blackfire up and then slammed a fist into her chin with enough force to send her flying up into the ceiling, "But no one and nothing shall ever rule over me ever again!" she roared and then launched herself up into the air and rammed Blackfire through the ceiling. Raven winced in response.

"Well she certainly touched the nerve," she muttered and the other Titans looked at her incredulously. Galfore just nodded his head in agreement, given that he was aware of the extenuating circumstances, of course he knew there was a nerve.

"There's a nerve… Starfire actually has a nerve?" Beast Boy demanded incredulously. The alien was literally the sweetest person he knew, how could she possibly have a nerve!? Sure she sometimes got a little annoyed by his pranks, but they'd never seen her blow up so fast before!

"We all have nerves we don't like to be touched," Raven responded. She then turned her attention back to the sisters as Starfire rammed Blackfire into the ground with a roar. She then grips at Blackfire's chest, specifically, the Jewel of Charta and then puts all of her strength into her fingers. As she did she slammed her forehead into Blackfire's and thus slammed the girl's head into the floor.

Blackfire grunted as she was then kicked and sent skidding back. She soon righted herself and formed her Starbolts, only to immediately take notice that they were back to her usual shade of purple. The dark tamaranean snarled as she looked to her chest and then up to Starfire furiously.

"What have you done?!" she demanded. However Starfire mutely opened her hand to show specks of red. The redhead then brushed her hands off and the two lunged at one another. Blackfire hurled several Starbolts at her sister, who dodged around them and then, with all the righteous fury she could muster, fired a focused beam from her eyes into Blackfire's chest that sent her flying down into the ground with a bang.

"Dude!" BB exclaimed with wide eyes as the Titans watched on. They watched the dust cloud warily, and then saw Blackfire step out of it. She was still on her feet, but only for a moment before she fell forward with a groan, her crown falling from her forehead to clatter against the ground. Starfire sighed at that and flew down to stand over her sister, and knelt down to pick up the crown.

"The challenge is complete," she declared and then turned, "Tamaran has a new grand ruler," she remarked and received wild cheering from the gathered Tamaraneans and of course her friends. She ignored Blackfire as she glared at her as she walked towards her friends, the crown in her hands. She smiled as her friends crowded around her, then winced as her burned hands held the crown.

"Let me help with that," Raven stated as she held her hands up, only for Starfire to shake her head.

"Not yet," she stated and walked to Galfore. The big Tamaranean smiled then brought a fist to his chest and bowed his head.

"You did well, little star," he remarked gently, "I could not be more proud," he stated with a smile. The girl mutely looked to her hands and then up at Galfore.

"I thank you," she whispered and closed her eyes, "but we both know that I cannot rule," she stated softly. Galfore nodded sadly, then blinked as she flew up and placed the crown on his head. "Yet I must still do what is right for Tamaran, so I ask that you look out for Tamaran, as you did for me when I was small," she pleaded. Galfore looked surprised and turned to the rest of the Tamaraneans who cheered for the big Tamaranea.

He briefly raised a hand to quiet and closed his eyes. He seemed to think for a long time before he opened his eyes and looked to the side. There he saw Blackfire as she picked herself up and then marched over to her. Starfire returned to her friends and smiled awkwardly as Raven went to work healing her hands. At Galfore's approach the dark Tamaranean glanced up and then scowled with a hand to her head.

"Oh great it's you," she muttered and then stood on shaky legs. Galfore scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Komand'r," he began gravely, "I have known you since you were very small," he remarked and the dark Tamaranean rolled her eyes.

"Dude, her name is actually Commander?" Beast Boy questioned with a snicker. It earned him a nudge from both Cyborg and Raven.

"Not now B," the Titanium Teen deadpanned with a nod from the dark bird.

"I can recall when you were not as you are now, a time when you wished only to prove yourself to your father, Emperor Myand'r," he admitted then closed his eyes as if to recall those memories and the person she was back then, only to suddenly open them with blazing green light, "yet you have committed many crimes against your family, and your people, and your world," he intoned and turned his back to her.

"As such it is my duty to judge you for your crimes. And it is for this reason that my first order as the new Grand Ruler of Tamaran, is that Komand'r of house Tamarus is henceforth banished from our world, never to return!" he declared and looked to the side. "Guards!" he bellowed. Blackfire growled as several guards pointed their spears at her, eyes blazing with purple light. "Take her away!" Galfore ordered solemnly.

However Blackfire just narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah… that's so not happening," she stated and then ducked down and shot up into the air towards the roof. She paused and glared at Starfire, "I hope you know, sister dear," she hissed as her eyes blazed with purple energy, "that this isn't over!" she growled as she then shot further and further into the air before finally she vanished into the distance. "Not by a long shot," she whispered as she fought back a few stray tears.

Back in the palace, Robin grit his teeth as the dark Tamaranean made her escape. He then looked to Galfore with narrowed eyes. "You're just going to let her go," he nearly demanded, yet the big Tamaranean sighed.

"She is banished, off-worlder," he reminded the boy wonder, "Whether she leaves of her own accord matters little so long as she is gone," he stated firmly. "In the meantime you and yours are welcome to stay until your ship is repaired," he stated with a sigh. He then looked to Starfire and smiled, "Koriand'r, you have good friends," he stated and the redhead smiled in response.

With that Galfore turned from the young redhead and looked to the… sklerdge, which seemed to shrink under his gaze. The mammoth Tamaranean clenched his fists and then looked to the guards. "Guards take this, thing, to its ship and get it off of my planet," Galfore grumbled irritably. The guards nodded and marched to escort the thing away while Cyborg scratched his head.

"Well that felt just a bit anti-climactic," Cyborg mumbled, and got looks from his friends…

00

(Starfire's room…)

Raven sat beside of Starfire as she continued to heal her many wounds. _'Way too many bruises and burns,'_ she briefly thought as a stab of pain entered her own hands. _'Don't think about it,'_ she told herself and then looked to Starfire. The girl had been oddly somber since they stopped Blackfire. In fact, she'd seemed almost irritated by how Robin was angry that the girl had 'gotten away'.

"Something wrong?" Raven questioned. Starfire glanced at her friend for a moment then closed her eyes.

"No one deserves to have their dreams crushed friend," Starfire replied softly, "especially when they were all that Komand'r ever really had," she whispered. Raven winced in response and then cleared her throat.

"So I guess we're going to be on Tamaran for a little while," she remarked. Starfire idly nodded her head with a downcast expression. "So any idea how long that'll take?" she questioned. Starfire sighed and shrugged her shoulders in response. Raven grunted and then idly rubbed her temples. "There's more than just that, isn't there?" she questioned and Starfire slowly nodded her head.

"It would be bad enough for my sister were it only that she lost her dream," the redhead admitted and then hugged herself, "but to have me as a direct cause," she paused and shook her head. "I can only imagine when next we meet she will be even angrier than she was here," she remarked and Raven grimaced. She could scarcely imagine a Blackfire that hated her even more than she did now…

' _Definitely not a pleasant thought,'_ she noted to herself. She then shook her head of such thoughts and closed her eyes in thought. Starfire was clearly out of sorts over Blackfire, although how she could still feel so sisterly to her was beyond the younger girl. Then again, Starfire had been raised to live by her emotions. As such logical thinking didn't always make sense to her, as logically speaking, she should absolutely hate Blackfire.

Instead, she still loved her sister, she even felt bad that her dreams were destroyed…

"So," Raven began and Starfire glanced at her, "how about we move off that depressing topic and onto something else," the dark bird suggested. Starfire smiled gratefully and nodded her head in agreement.

"What is it you have in mind friend Raven?" she questioned. The dark bird looked at the older girl with a deadpan expression.

"The story about the future," she replied. Starfire giggled in response and nodded her head.

"Of course," she remarked and then crossed her arms and hummed. "Well, I believe what happened next was that we located where the Cypher was being held," she remarked. She then cupped her chin as she continued to think back. "I was talking to Xyannis, as I wished to know more that had happened in the time I had been away. The Red-X was with the Hood and Arrow, while the Gizmo worked to locate the Cypher…"

00

[20 years in the future…]

(Tartarus Technologies…)

Barbara Gordon worked swiftly as she scanned through the systems in the Tartarus Technologies. The 'Ghost Programs' that Cypher had left throughout the systems were already hard at work making life difficult for her. The programs were fully autonomous, with only their final bit of programming left to give them purpose. Their actions were solely dependent on the individual program, which could be just about anything.

Unfortunately for Cypher, as Oracle, she'd taken out much better hackers. The cybernetic enhancements she'd had done to her didn't make her a better hacker in any sense. They made it easier for her to hack into computers, but Cypher's actual skill in doing so was sub-par compared to what she could do. As such she had a relatively easy time hunting the programs down in Gizmo's systems.

Getting them out was another matter entirely as the ghost programs seemed to have inherited their 'mother's' tenacity and stubborn will to survive. Barbara stopped at that thought and squished it down into nothing. _'They aren't Cypher's kids, at best they are things the H.I.V.E. forced on her,'_ she thought to herself. She'd never wish any kind of 'children' by what the H.I.V.E. did on the poor woman.

As someone who had been paralyzed by a super-villain, she had no small amount of sympathy for what the H.I.V.E. did to Cypher. It was a million times worse for Cypher of course, but she did feel a bit of understanding. The big difference was that Barbara couldn't imagine that Cypher would ever be able to have a normal life after what was done to her by those animals…

"Ha! Finally got some video!" Gizmo exclaimed. Barbara swiftly wheeled herself over to the tiny terror and watched a holographic screen depict the 'video'. What she saw was a video of someone, Cypher, moving through several tunnels with a bit of graffiti on the walls and other such paraphernalia.

"That looks familiar," the redhead remarked with a hand to her chin. She reached a hand to the side to bring up a few files on her laptop she had on passed missions she'd been involved with. Not necessarily with Batman or any of the others. She'd occasionally worked with the 'Super' family as well as the Birds of Prey, the Outlaws, the Outsiders, the Titans, and even the JLU.

"What're you looking for?" Gizmo questioned. Barbara ignored him as she connected her laptop to his terminal and started to clear up the video, and then narrowed her eyes as Cypher stepped out into a city. Gizmo grunted and turned from the girl to look at the video as well. They both noticed it almost immediately. The tall gothic buildings in the distance, the broken and battered town around her as she stepped into a van…

"That was Old Gotham," Gizmo noted then grunted, "Why the fuck is it always fucking Gotham?" the tiny terror grumbled irritably. In his opinion that was a very reasonable question, and it was up there with why idiots still lived in that crazy city! Barbara rolled her eyes at the crack and then slowly nodded her head as she continued to enhance the picture of the video in different places.

"Gotham is a place people go to disappear, lots of vagrants and psychos for the H.I.V.E. to use," she murmured quietly. "Worse, I know where they are," she stated as she looked as she cleared the images in the video. Namely all the different posters, one of which clearly stated where it was that the H.I.V.E. were held up in. "Wonder City," she remarked and Gizmo scowled deeply and pulled on his beard.

"Fucking fuckity fuck, that's deep in the Bats territory," he noted with a frown. If it was on the outskirts of Gotham they might be able to skirt around the Bat without any kind of issue. But that deep in and they were almost guaranteed to run into the dark knight. "Argh! Why the hell did they set up there?!" he demanded furiously. Barbara clicked her tongue in response.

"If you stop to think about it, it makes some sense," she noted as she brought the image of where Wonder City was up. "The H.I.V.E. favor underground bases and Wonder City was underground. Not to mention that Batman cleared out Wonder City back during the Arkham City incident," she murmured as she brought up her old files on Wonder City from the incident in question. She then started to bring up notes on Wonder Tower.

"So do you think they tried to dig up the Lazarus Pit?" Gizmo questioned. Barbara hummed in response and then shook her head.

"Batman completely buried it," she replied and then pursed her lips, "even if they did, the pit would've been contaminated by residue from Clayface and thereby unusable," she remarked. Gizmo grunted in response and then scratched at his head.

"So why bother with that place then? Gotham isn't exactly the best place to set up a criminal organization," the tiny terror noted. Given how the Batman and his 'family' had taken out the last few that tried, that was also a pretty safe bet. _'The League of Assassins, The Benefactors, The Court of Owls,'_ he internally listed and then frowned as he wondered whether or not a couple others counted while Barbara hummed softly.

"Not necessarily," she murmured as she looked over the video once more. "As I said it was cleared out and Gotham is full of mentally unstable people that they could capture for experiments or to turn into mindless drone soldiers," she reminded him. She then started to turn Cypher's video-feed back and frowned when she saw lots of static. "What is," she whispered then paused when she saw what looked like Steel Clan.

"Well that confirms that the H.I.V.E. have been supplying those two-bit punks with their tech," Gizmo noted and Barbara nodded her head. She then narrowed her eyes and focused in on the back and a grimace crossed her face.

"It looks like it gets worse," she noted as she enhanced the picture. In the back they could only just make out the visage of an elderly Brother Blood, cybernetically enhanced and overseeing it all imperiously. "Brother Blood," she murmured and then frowned, "The Senior one that is, who I thought was supposed to be dead," she noted with a frown. Gizmo grimaced and then looked around his desk.

"Of course that stupid ass hat survived the fucking shit storm his son started," the tiny terror muttered as he looked at the recording. "Looks like Mother Mayhem might be with him as well," he noted as he saw a couple of crimson-cloaked women with hoods drawn up to shadow their faces behind Brother Blood.

"So then the hierarchy of the Church of Blood are in total control of the H.I.V.E. and Steel Clan," Barbara remarked with a frown. She continued to enhance the picture in the video files when she saw someone else. "Better add Psimon to that list of problems Gizmo," she stated and leaned back in her seat. The tiny terror saw the braincase-wearing maniac and allowed a grimace to cross his lips.

Brother Blood on his own was already a skilled martial artist and psychic, add on his cybernetic enhancements and he could be a force to be reckoned with. Mother Mayhem was simply a high-ranking member of the Church of Blood, a part of the Order of Scath, some of Trigon the Terrible's most 'faithful' servants on Earth. She was Brother Blood's mistress, and her only obligation was that she would bare and then raise his son.

' _Ugh… how anyone could stand sleeping with_ _ **that**_ _I'll never know,'_ Gizmo thought with a look of disgust directed at the half mechanical body of Brother Blood. But that wasn't the point, nor did it really matter to him. The Church of Blood was a demon-worshipping Cult that X had run afoul of several times in the past. Usually, when X ran into them he made it a point to eviscerate any of them he found…

Gizmo was still cleaning the bloodstains out of his rug in the library from one particularly stupid member of the Church who thought it was a smart idea to try and hold him hostage. Gizmo snorted at the sheer insanity of that idea, given how protective X was to his city in general, it was a fact he was worse towards his friends. But that still wasn't the point as he focused on the last figure with a frown.

Simon Jones was originally a scientist at STAR Labs; he was specifically researching parallel worlds. Eventually the man had managed to create a device that allowed him to peer into other worlds. Unfortunately for him, he also caught the attention of Trigon The Terrible. The dread extra-dimensional demon sent a message to Simon and gifted him his mental powers in exchange for his servitude.

Psimon was born as a result, but had no intention of becoming a puppet to Trigon. Instead he went out of his way to prevent the coming of Trigon, going so far as to work against the H.I.V.E. from within when Brother Blood took over. Yet in the end his attempts amounted to naught but a furious demon, which would likely make Psimon's after life a true hell whenever he finally got him…

"Oh my god," Barbara whispered as realization suddenly dawned on her. Gizmo glanced at the woman with a scowl and narrowed his eyes.

"What's with you?" he demanded. He was a lot nicer to Barbara than he was to most girls, mostly because she was hot but also because he respected her intelligence. It was rare that he found a woman that good looking with an IQ that was almost as high as his own. Plainly put the Tiny Terror was not going to alienate her for that reason. In response to his question Barbara looked at Gizmo with wide eyes.

"The Church of Blood have Warp," she replied. Gizmo arched a brow.

"So?" he questioned. Barbara twitched and then exhaled.

"The Church of Blood have Warp!" she stated more urgently. Gizmo just shrugged and the redhead palmed her face. For all his intelligence Gizmo could miss some pretty big things when they were staring him right in the face… "They have Warp, they have his research, they have his tech!" she continued and Gizmo blinked. "They have access to a Time Machine!" she snarled at the tiny terror, fed up with his clueless idiocy.

"Oh, yeah that's ba…" Gizmo began only to pause as she grabbed his shoulders.

"Time machines which can also easily be reworked into inter-dimensional gateways!" the redhead growled at the bald midget. Gizmo was silent as he allowed that thought to sink in and then his eyes bugged out.

"Holy mother of fucking shit the Church of Blood have Warp!"

00

(Tartarus Technologies, Ops Center…)

Naruto sat with Red-Hood at the couch while Red-Arrow was busy working on one of the many infected systems of the building. Starfire was speaking with Xyannis animatedly to the side, a jubilant expression on her face while the older Tamaranean looked somewhat bemused by it all. As they did that, Cheshire was preoccupied with eating whatever she could find in the fridge.

"So how've things been X?" Hood questioned. He wasn't normally one for small talk, but he couldn't help but notice that his friend was staring at Cheshire. Then again it was a little strange that the emerald assassin was eating so much. _'Not when you realize why she's eating so much,'_ the man internally corrected.

"Fine for the most part," Naruto replied distractedly. "We've had the usual troubles with the gangs but nothing I can't handle," he noted. He then paused and tapped on his chin, "Oh yeah, I think the local gang of Reds got a new leader," he added and Red-Hood quirked a brow in response.

"That matters why?" he questioned. Naruto looked at his friend with a deadpan expression.

"Cause they wear our colors, so we should at least know what they're up too," he replied and Hood shrugged his shoulders.

"Not my problem, I move from place to place," he reminded his friend. Naruto rolled his eyes and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Right right," he muttered and then frowned in thought. "Aside from that we've had a few random incidents with the latest generation of 'villains'," the blond remarked with air-quotes and Hood shook his head.

"They don't make good villains anymore," Hood stated sagely and Naruto snorted.

"Understatement of the fucking century, they make Doctor Light look scary," he noted as he palmed his face through his mask and sighed. "I'm getting too old for this shit," he grumbled out irritably. Hood snorted in response and looked at his friend incredulously.

"This coming from the guy who is quite literally part tree," Hood mumbled and got a look from the blond as a result. The funny part was that that was actually a thing. As it turned out his species weren't actually apes despite their appearance. Instead they were actually descended from what Gizmo classed as 'Oni' and the Shinju, which was an odd combination if ever there was one.

"My species might be part tree, but that's no reason to make fun of me," the blond grumbled irritably. He wasn't exactly thrilled to learn he was part plant, although it did seem to make Poison Ivy extremely friendly with him, it was kind of annoying when he realized that was also why he got that stupid green ring. Naruto shook that thought off and then stared at Jade strangely as she continued to eat before he leaned over to Hood.

"Is she pregnant again?" he stage whispered. Red-Hood briefly looked at Roy and then subtly nodded his head. "Crap…" Naruto muttered with a grimace. He could quite easily recall the last time Cheshire had been pregnant, when she wasn't trying to kill them she was all weepy, the extremely rare times when she wasn't either homicidal or weepy she was affectionate… inappropriately affectionate.

"Don't tell Roy, she wants to surprise him," Hood whispered to Naruto. The blond silently nodded his head and then looked back to Cheshire. Despite the amount she was eating she still seemed thin to him. _'Clearly only in her first few months,'_ he decided though how she wasn't putting on weight despite all the food she was eating…

"Not showing yet," he noted. Hood internally rolled his eyes.

"Takes time genius," he reminded him. Naruto fixed a flat look on the man.

"I know that!" he hissed and then looked back at Cheshire, "Is it safe for her to come with?" he questioned worriedly. Red-Hood snorted and nodded his head in reply. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief while Hood chuckled to himself. It was nice to know he had a teammate who was more concerned for his teammates than anything else. He could admit to himself that that was why he liked having X with them on big jobs.

"What are you two talking about?" Roy questioned from where he was working. Both Hood and X grinned nervously beneath their masks and raised their hands.

"Nothing!" they both stated quickly. Roy looked at them strangely for a moment then rolled his eyes as he turned back to his work. As he did the boys breathed a sigh of relief and then glanced at one another. After a moment Naruto cleared his throat and looked back at Roy curiously. However before he could ask him what he was doing, they heard the doors shoot open while Gizmo scurried inside with wide eyes.

Upon seeing his friend in clear distress Naruto hopped up and over to him.

"Jeez Giz, are you alright?" he questioned with a hand on the tiny terrors shoulder. However Gizmo brushed his hands from his person then leaped up and grabbed the front of his trenchcoat with wide eyes.

"The mother fucking Church of goddamned Blood have Warp!" he exclaimed frantically. There was a sudden hushed silence in the room. It was practically deafening, as even Xyannis seemed to go pale when she heard that. Starfire looked around herself unsure of the meaning behind those words, then felt… something… utterly oppressive in the air press down on her very being as Red-X's demeanor suddenly changed.

He stood ramrod straight and his fists clenched at his sides. Starfire also saw the lenses on his mask seem to narrow on the tiny terror dangerously. _'How do they do that?'_ the tamaranean powerhouse wondered to herself. _'Perhaps I should ask_ _ **why**_ _they do that,'_ she considered briefly. It did seem kind of silly to her after all, and it made her wonder what was going on with his mask.

"What did you just say?" Naruto questioned sternly. Gizmo yelped and released the black clad thief and then backed away nervously.

"The Church of Blood have Warp," he replied. The blond had to physically restrain himself from growling in anger. _'Oh so that's what those fucktards have been up too 'en, well it's bout time I shoved my foot up their collective asses again,'_ he decided as he started to crack his knuckled.

"Where are they?" he questioned. Gizmo gulped.

"Wonder City which also happens to be under old Gotham," he replied. Naruto silently nodded and turned around, "But we're talking deep in the Bat's territory here X," he remarked. The thief briefly twitched. "Not to mention with all those psychic assholes around I'll need to dig out our old neural-blocks," he added with a frown. He also tried to remember where he'd put those old things…

' _Did I even keep them? Did Angel take 'em when she and Kyd finally retired? Or did I get rid of 'em after Brainiac tried to use 'em to jack our minds?'_ he briefly wondered then snapped his fingers. _'Oh right I put 'em in the closet next to that old chronotron generator I was fixing up for our time travel division,'_ he noted with a nod of his head. Naruto just looked at his friend as his masked eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Giz, get those blocks quick cause I wanna be at Wonder City within the hour," he growled furiously.

"But what about the bat?!" Gizmo demanded and the masked blond scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Let me worry about the fucking Bat, just get those blocks!" he replied gravely. Gizmo looked at him strangely for a moment, then nodded with a grunt and scurried away. As he left Naruto slowly exhaled a breath and turned to a stone serious Red-Hood. "You heard me, we're moving out," he stated and then stalked off. Red-Hood nodded his head and got back up then looked to Roy.

"Arrow, prep the ship," he stated swiftly and the scarlet archer silently nodded. As the boys got ready Starfire looked to Xyannis curiously.

"Why is the X so distressed?" she questioned. She couldn't think of a better word for it, as he didn't seem… well no, he seemed angry but that wasn't a word that fully captured the sheer depths of anger that X was giving off. Xyannis hummed in response, arms crossed and a clearly annoyed expression on her face.

"It's a long story," she began and then brushed the hair from her face, "but suffice it to say that he and the Church of Blood have a 'rocky' history," she explained. She then frowned as she looked at Cheshire, who had taken a knife from her kimono and started to sharpen it. She rolled her eyes and looked back to Starfire, "personally, I think it's annoying he's still angry about it," she grumbled quietly.

Starfire looked at the older Tamaranean with a quirked brow.

"But," she began however the older girl flew away without another word. Starfire frowned to herself and then glanced at Cheshire as the emerald-assassin chuckled. The emerald assassin finished off what she was eating and closed the fridge door. She idly wiped at her mouth with a napkin as she turned to the alien powerhouse.

"You know cutie," the girl began and caused Starfire to frown. She really didn't want all of X's friends to start calling her that. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so friendly with her," the emerald-assassin noted playfully. Starfire narrowed her eyes in response.

"I've known her since I was small," she retorted. However the assassin shook her head. She then flipped onto the island of the kitchen. She landed in a seated position, legs crossed while she leaned to the side with her cheek propped against her raised palm.

"Correction, you _**knew**_ her back when you were small," the emerald-assassin remarked and then stretched out across the island like a cat. "She's changed a lot since back then, in ways you can't possibly imagine," she remarked and Starfire scowled. Cheshire shook her head and then rolled off of the island and landed in a low crouch. She then stood up and brushed herself off.

"Well anyways Cutie, just keep what I said in mind," she told the redhead playfully. She then sashayed passed her, then turned and gave a mock salute. "But what do I know? I've only known her for the passed five years," she remarked as she sauntered off. Starfire watched her go with a frown, then quickly made her way to the Outlaw's ship…

00

[Present day…]

"The Church of Blood," Raven whispered with a scowl. She knew who they were of course; she was actually intimately familiar with them…

"Yes, the Red-X was quite perturbed upon learning of their association with the H.I.V.E. and desire for Warp," the alien powerhouse noted. Raven grunted in response and crossed her arms over her chest. She could easily think of a few things the Church of Blood could do with time travel capabilities. The most likely scenario in her mind was that they were going to go free Trigon at a point the world didn't have defenders, or something similar.

"Yeah I noticed," Raven replied after a moment then closed her eyes. She was actually a little curious why the thief was so hostile towards the Church of Blood. Her own reason for hating them made sense in her mind. Yet, why the thief hated the Church of Blood was a mystery… "Did you ever find out what was up with that?" the dark bird questioned. Starfire winced in response.

"The X was not forthcoming, but I learned his friend who was a girl was lost to him by their actions," she replied. Raven winced and then looked away. _'Did they use her as a sacrifice? Try to give her to Trigon maybe? Hmmm,'_ the dark bird wondered to herself. It could honestly be any number of things with the Church of Blood involved. Honestly, she didn't have enough time to list all the ways they could've hurt him with her…

"So you went to Gotham," she noted and Starfire nodded her head. "What's it like?" the dark bird questioned. She wouldn't admit it but she'd actually considered visiting the city a couple of times over the years. Mostly because the architecture was very interesting in the few pictures she'd seen of it, but also because her mother, Angela 'Arella' Roth was a Gotham Native before she was taken to Azaroth.

"It was dark and oppressive, cold and merciless, it felt as if something would come from every alley or corner to attack and also as if the hope had been lost to her people long long ago," the alien powerhouse replied blankly. She then crossed her arms with a frown. "It honestly felt as though I was on the Gordanian Prison Ship again," she admitted. Raven raised a brow and tilted her head slightly.

"So I take it it's not a good place to visit then," she remarked and Starfire looked at her and shook with a deadpan expression. Raven looked to the side and then awkwardly cleared her throat. _'Well on that note I'm crossing Gotham off my list of places to visit,'_ the dark bird thought to herself. Even if it was her mother's former home, that description kind of made it sound like a hellhole if she were honest.

Then again with all the crazy villains in Gotham that kind of made a twisted sort of sense…

"So then back to the story," Raven pleaded. Starfire nodded her head as she inhaled a breath and then continued.

"The Outlaws were most generous in allowing us to use their ship to reach the City of Wonders," Starfire began, "Although the X insisted we needed to use the surprise if we were to catch the H.I.V.E. before they escaped with the Cypher," she admitted. Raven nodded her head with a hum while the redhead closed her eyes. "As such we decided that our entry into the H.I.V.E. would be a bit… impractical," the girl remarked with a smile…

00

[20 years in the future…]

(Wonder City, Old Gotham…)

Several Steel Clan Cyborgs march their way through the tunnels beneath Gotham. The make their way to the once League of Assassins controlled city known simply as 'Wonder City'. It had, since the H.I.V.E. took over, been modified and upgraded into a true subterranean facility on par with the original H.A.E.Y.P. It was used primarily as a place of recruitment, but also for experimentation.

Among these experiments and recruits were of course the Steel Clan, a group of men and women willing to part with their organic organs and flesh and replace them with cold hard steel. Speaking of, two of the Steel Clan suddenly turned to stand in front of and beside the doors to Wonder City while the rest make their way inside. Many of them carry this or that, spoils of recent robberies and thefts committed by the Steel Clan.

The two guards stand silently as their fellows march into the city. Then they glance to one another when they notice a strange noise. They pause as their fellow pass then turn at another sound, only to scream as a familiar ship appears in a bright flash of light and crushes them as it crashes through the door to Wonder City. The Steel Clan within the city immediately turn and open fire on the ship with whatever weapons they have.

For roughly a minute the Steel Clan pelted the ship with continuous fire, never stopping until all they could see is dust in the air. Once they finally stopped they watched the dust cloud clear and the ship come back into view. Much to the surprise of the Steel Clan, the ship was perfectly intact, nary a scratch or a mark on its hull. One of the higher-ranking Steel Clan members glanced at two of his fellows and motioned them over to the ship.

The two lower ranked members glanced at one another then slowly approached the ship with their weapons drawn, only to halt at a hiss of air. The two Steel Clan Cyborgs took a step back with their weapons raised to the source of the hiss. The top of the ship opened up and then a familiar man in black popped out. Red-X looked down at the two Steel Clan Cyborgs and raised a hand.

"Hello," he stated with a mocking wave. He then smirked as he formed several red X's into both hands, "Buh-bye," he stated as he flicked the X-Shuriken around the room and then ducked back into the ship as the Steel Clan opened fire on him and the ship again. The Steel Clan fired at the ship without pause, only for one to glance at the Shuriken X threw when he noticed a beeping sound.

He saw a blinking red light on the Shuriken, and groaned pitifully just as it exploded…

Inside the ship Naruto slipped back down with a snicker. As he did he noticed Koriand'r as she looked all around the ship in surprise. It was clear she knew what the ship was and at least what some of the tech was as she zipped here and there. "This is a slip-ship!" she declared. Which explained how they'd managed to bypass all the earth and rock between them and the H.I.V.E.'s underground facility…

"How did you acquire one of these on the Earth?" she questioned. Red Hood blinked at the wording and glanced at his Tamaranean teammate.

"She means 'how on earth did you get one of these' doesn't she?" he questioned. However Xyannis smirked in response.

"She knows what she meant," the elder Tamaranean replied, and then glanced at the youthful redhead. She considered how she could explain for a moment then mentally decided to say 'fuck it' and tell the truth. "We stole it," she stated with a shrug. Starfire paused to stare at her strangely while Naruto snorted and snickered to himself. Roy palmed his face and then looked back with a frown.

"No, you two stole the first one," he stated accusingly. As he did Cheshire smirked behind her mask. She recalled that the only reason they had stolen the first Slip-Ship was because some random space pirates had kidnapped the ginger. One of said pirates had even been stupid enough to pretend to be Lobo of all people, who had taken offence to the thin and clean cut faker and had even ripped his head off for good measure.

"Actually we stole two ships," Red-Hood noted and got a look from Roy, the leader of the Outlaws rolled his eyes in response, "don't give me that look, you were in trouble man," Red-Hood deadpanned and Roy palmed his face.

"I know," he replied tersely and then sighed, "but my point is that I worked with Gizmo to design a new Slip-Drive and installed it into our current ship," the ginger explained. He then crossed his arms with a stern frown. "So no, we didn't steal this one!" he declared with a firm nod of his head. Koriand'r mutely looked between Roy and Red-Hood for a moment then turned back to X as he chuckled to himself.

Naruto chuckled to himself as he listened to the explosions from outside the ship. He waited for a moment, ignored the screams, and then grinned when the explosions, and sounds of blaster fire, finally ceased. He then glanced back at his allies and motioned them up. The masked thief hurried out of the ship and then flipped onto the hull of the ship and glanced around to see the Steel Clan were scrambling to attack.

' _Oh no you don't,'_ the masked thief thought as his thermal blasters unfolded from his suit's wrists. The thief then started to rain a hale of fire on the Steel Clan, causing them to scatter and scramble for cover behind any building they could find. The blond thief continued to fire while Red-Hood came out of the ship behind him and then started to fire on the Cyborgs as well.

He holds a pair of heavily customized pistols, weapons he's used for more than a decade, and that he is intimately familiar with. He aimed his weapons at several of the Steel Clan as they tried to fire on him and X, only for them to drop down dead from a round to the forehead. Red-Hood was not a man who pulled his punches, or use rubber bullets, if he was fighting a criminal then the Criminal was very likely going to end up dead.

"So," Hood began as he fired into the mass of Cyborgs. Naruto grunted in response while his sometimes friend continued to take out anyone in sight. "The usual wager?" Hood questioned as he ducked down to reload his gun. Naruto snorted in response while he spotted some H.I.V.E. Troopers approaching from one of the halls. _'For assassins these guys really stand out too much with all the bright yellow,'_ he thought to himself.

"First to fifty?" the masked blond questioned as he fired at the H.I.V.E. Troopers. The man quickly ducked or dodged as the crimson beams of heat approached them. Hood got back up and then started to fire on the enemy once more.

"Sounds about right," Hood replied as he fired on another Steel Clan member. "I'm already up to ten, you?" he questioned and Naruto snorted.

"Keep up junior, I've got twenty!" the blond retorted with a grin. He then formed a shuriken into his hand and tossed it into a throng of troopers. The weapon exploded and the two men started to pick off the troopers one by one.

"First of all, you had a head start," Red-Hood reminded the blond as he fired at another pair of H.I.V.E. Troopers. "That's two more," he noted as he turned and fired on a pair of Steel Clan cyborgs. "Dammit I missed…" he muttered under his breath and then glanced at X from the corner of his eye. "And besides that, I'm only just hitting my stride," he stated with an amused smirk.

"Would you two stop fucking around and concentrate!?" Roy shouted as he climbed out of the ship. Unlike X who liked his thermal-blasters, or Hood who favored his pistols, Red-Arrow of course used a bow. Unlike them though he also had a host of other weapons at his disposal, as one of the nicknames he'd been given over the years just happened to be ' _ **Arsenal**_ '.

"Chill out Roy, we're just having some fun," Naruto said in an attempt to placate the man. However Roy merely grunted while he notched an arrow and let it fly. The arrow exploded in the distance causing several screams from the H.I.V.E. Troopers and Steel Clan. The ginger archer then glanced at his friends with a deep frown on his face.

"Maybe I just don't like that you two make a game out of what is essentially mass-murder," he growled at the two. Hood rolled his eyes while Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He was able to kill yes, and he had, but that didn't mean he made a conscious effort to do so. More often than not he merely maimed or brutalized the people he went up against on a day to day basis.

"In my defense, we only have to incapacitate them for a point," the blond Shinobi remarked. Roy blinked and then noticed that several of the men and women that X hit weren't dead… dismembered, oh yes, but not necessarily dead. _'Note to self, stay on X's good side,'_ the ginger decided and then pulled another arrow from his quiver. He fired a sonic arrow into a throng of troopers and watched them fall down screaming.

He quickly pulled and notched yet another arrow and fired it into a throng of troopers that exploded into a ruddy red foam. The foam expanded around the surprised H.I.V.E. Troopers and quickly hardened around them. The men struggled but where held firm while Roy glanced at his friends. "That's eight for me," he noted and his friends grinned in response.

"Oh it is so on!" Red-Hood stated while he and X redoubled their efforts. X formed several red-x's into his left hand and then sent them flying. They flew through the air before on expanded and wrapped around a H.I.V.E. Trooper. Another exploded and sent a Steel Clan Cyborg flying. Another latched onto a H.I.V.E. Trooper and sent an electric jolt through him that caused him to pass out.

"I believe that's three," X noted with a smirk. Hood muttered under his breath and didn't dignify that with a response. Sometimes he missed having a utility belt full of gadgets he could use against his enemies. Sure his coat looked better, but it couldn't really hold all of the gadgets he'd like it too. Not to mention it was harder than hell to find the kind of gadgets that Batman and Robin used, Naruto had honestly lucked out with his suit..

Roy rolled his eyes and notched yet another arrow. He just preferred his bow mostly for nostalgias sake these days, but also for his trick arrows. Most of said arrows had been built by him, many of which having been modified into lethal variants of the ones used by his friend and mentor Oliver Queen, AKA Green Arrow. Of the 'lethal' variants he would occasionally use, included a 'scatter arrow', which friends still swore he ripped off of Hanzo from Overwatch.

Roy shook his head of that and continued to help his friends keep the Steel Clan and H.I.V.E. at bay. As they did Cheshire slunk from the back of the ship and into the shadows. She had a mission she needed to complete, a simple on in that she was to find and take care of Psimon. It wasn't because he'd be a threat, with the neural-blocks they didn't really have to worry about that.

No, she had personal reasons to hunt Psimon and X was aware of them, and he was also more than willing to let her gut the man like a trout for what he did…

' _I'll have to do something nice for him later,'_ Cheshire decided. She then slipped into the shadows and seemed to vanish. She was a true assassin after all, not flashy like some of the weirdoes who'd popped up over the years, or had an interesting gimmick to her name, but an assassin wasn't supposed to be flashy or gimmicky, they were supposed to get the job done! And Cheshire always got the job done… well most of the time anyways.

While Cheshire slipped off to find Psimon, the two Starfires flew out of the ship and shot up into the air. The elder of the two smiled darkly as she fired a beam from her eyes that tore through several Steel Clan Cyborgs. But the younger flew passed her and then shot down one of many corridors. The elder Starfire, who looked more than a little annoyed, swiftly followed after her.

Much like Cheshire, the Tamaranean duo also had a mission to complete; they were tasked with the mission of locating Cypher. Koriand'r had been adamant that they needed to help the cybernetic hacker. X had agreed and decided the two Tamaraneans would watch each other's backs as they looked for her. Xyannis had, at first, wanted to go with him instead but X had put his foot down.

So instead she was stuck 'babysitting' the younger Tamaranean as 'the Reds' all focused on their own missions. Which at the moment was limited to keeping the Steel Clan's attention on them, but that wasn't the whole of their job. As the girls finally got off to their jobs, X glanced at Hood and Arrow and nodded to them. Arrow nodded back and then shouldered his bow and leaped off and hurried away.

His mission was a simple one in theory, he was to get to the central computer in the facility and take it over. After he did he'd send locations on the other Outlaw's targets too them. The Crimson Archer knew this and was prepared; he, Oracle, and Gizmo had managed to rip apart Cypher's memory-chit to pull out the locations for all the different locations in the Wonder City H.I.V.E. Facility.

H soon ran down a long hallway and spotted several H.I.V.E. Soldiers. The ginger archer swiftly flipped his bow In hand and used it to club one of the soldiers across the face. The man backed up and grunted as Roy slammed a fist into his sternum. The ginger then turned on his heel to deliver a kick to the man's head and rolled out of the way of blaster fire from the other soldiers.

He swiftly flipped to the side, bow and arrow drawn, and fired an explosive arrow that sent the soldiers stumbling away. The man himself leaped forward to kick another soldier, then grabbed the next and flipped over him only to hurl him at the last soldier. He then sniffed and brushed himself off as he raised his hand to his ear and pressed down on a button on his ear-mounted communicator.

"Oracle, I'm approaching the main computer terminal," he stated.

[ _Right, X just reported in, he says that Hood is moving out,_ ] the other redhead replied. Roy nodded his head as he approached a door to the side and found a num-pad beside a door. He quickly ripped the pad open and then used a mini-computer to hack into it. He narrowed his eyes as the door opened and rolled inside with his bow and arrow drawn. He paused and then blinked with a frown when he didn't see anyone inside.

"Okay that was not what I expected," Roy muttered as he stood up and glanced to either side with a frown. He then turned and closed the door to the room and then hopped into the nearest chair. He then put his bow to the side and pulled a device from his belt and attached it to the computer terminal. "Oracle, Gizmo, I've got the link set up, see what these guys have been up to," the crimson archer stated with a hand to his ear.

[ _Right,_ ] Oracle replied. The crimson archer then watched as the woman proceeded to hack into the terminal. A plethora of data passed across the screen before he saw Oracle's emblem appear on the screen. [ _Alright I'm in,_ ] the redhead stated…

00

Naruto ducked beneath a blast from a Steel Clan cyborg and then vanished in a static flash. He reappeared behind the cyborg and shoved a Rasengan into the man's spine that sent him flying away. Red-Hood had already moved out, leaving X to deal with the remaining Steel Clan at the entrance. The masked blond then paused and raised his hand to his ear when he heard a sudden beep from his helmet.

"Talk to me," the thief replied and then vanished out of the way as more Steel Clan came running. The thief reappeared on the ceiling with his arms crossed and listened to his communicator.

[ _Just though you might want to know that I've broken into the security systems X,_ ] the woman explained. Naruto hummed in response and formed an X into his hand.

"Hold that thought," the blond murmured as he hurled the shuriken down at the Steel Clan below. The crimson weapon flew down low before suddenly exploding as it approached the Steel Clan. The blond thief chuckled to himself as he landed on the ground from a static flash a moment later. "Right, so what'd you find?" the blond thief questioned as he made his way down one of the halls.

[ _Quite a few things, I've already directed Hood and Xyannis to their targets, Cheshire refused to listen,_ ] she remarked drolly and Naruto smirked.

"This isn't just a job for her," Naruto remarked softly, "this is a fucking hunt as far as she's concerned," he intoned darkly then shook his head. "Besides that, Jade likes to do things for herself," the blond noted as he noticed a map appear at the corner of his eye.

[ _Right,_ ] Oracle murmured and then exhaled, [ _well anyways, I also sent Blood's location to your HUD,_ ] she stated. The blond smirked in response.

"Babs can I just take this moment to say that you have a rockin' body with a big beautiful brain on top of it!" the blond thief declared with a laugh. He could all but hear the woman roll her eyes in response.

[ _I'm married, but I'll still accept the compliment,_ ] she stated dryly. Naruto rolled his eyes in response as he turned serious and narrowed his eyes.

"Babs, here's a heads up, I'm going dark from here on out," the blond stated. Their was silence on the line for a moment before Barbara spoke up.

[ _X, please don't do anything rash,_ ] the woman pleaded. Naruto merely narrowed the lenses of his mask. His shadow also seemed to move, ten waving tendrils forming behind him as he clenched his fists at his side.

"I make no promises," he growled, as he seemed to surge forward like a dark wraith…

00

Simon Jones was once a normal man, in what could only be considered a previous life by this point. He could recall that life quite easily even now, but he wasn't particularly fond of who he used to be. So it was no wonder he took to his new life with such gusto, being particularly fond of his powers. Although to be honest he was in no way fond of his 'benefactor' the deranged inter-dimensional demon Trigon The Terrible.

He'd made it a point to foil the deranged demon's plans again and again over the years, sometimes covertly, sometimes overtly, but always against Trigon. As bad as he was and as much of a villain as he could be, he wasn't stupid enough to want an actual demon to run around destroying his world, unlike those idiots within the Church of Blood. That was the only reason he even bothered to be with this new 'H.I.V.E.'.

Psimon had infiltrated their ranks for the express purpose of finding out what they were up too. How they were going to try to resurrect Trigon, again, and put a stop to it before the monster managed to break loose. It wasn't a perfect plan, if he were honest it was foolish, yet Brother Blood didn't seem to care when he found him. What the cyborg was planning, he didn't know, but he knew it couldn't be…

"So here you are," Psimon heard and frowned. He turned around and then smirked at the sight of the familiar female figure.

"Well well," he whispered as he laced his fingers together. "Cheshire, it's been a while," he noted with a smirk, "tell me, when was the last time we saw each other?" he questioned with a quirked brow. The emerald assassin clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. She could very easily tell he was trying to piss her off… the problem was it was working! Psimon paused and nodded his head as he recalled when it was they last met.

"Oh yes, it was when your sister and her little friends got in my way," he recalled, "tell me, was the league ever able to recover any of her memories? Or is she still a vegetable," he began only to duck as the woman hurled several shuriken. The woman then lunged at the man with a roar only to grunt as several H.I.V.E. Troopers leaped at her from the side as the man stood up with glowing red eyes.

"Ah I believe it's time for the games to begin," he remarked and then grinned. Cheshire roared out as she kicked the H.I.V.E. Troopers off of herself and pulled a pair of sai from her sides.

"I'm going to enjoy this," she hissed. However Psimon smirked in response.

"Really dear, confidence is fine but don't get ahead of yourself," he remarked with a shake of his head. He then raised a hand and pointed it at the emerald assassin with a wide grin. "Psimon says, attack!" he declared as more HIVE Troopers seemed to leap out of the shadows. They lunged at Cheshire swiftly but the emerald assassin quickly dispatched them with a few moves.

One died with a sai through his jaw up into his head. The next died as she leaped up to grab his head between her ankles and twisted it to the side. The next died as she stabbed him in the heart with her other sai. And the last of them died when she kicked off of the others and brought both of her sai into his neck at an angle. He reached up and grasped at her wrists as she tore her sai from his neck and narrowed her eyes on Psimon.

The braincased villain scowled and narrowed his eyes.

"Very well," he murmured as she stomped towards him. Psimon took a step back and raised his hands to his head, "I'll just end this my-," he began only to suddenly pause and then cry out as something kept him out of the woman's mind. Cheshire giggled lightly and then rushed forward with a kick to the side of Psimon's head. He stumbled back while Cheshire twirled her sai and pinned the man to his desk.

With an eerie giggle the woman sashayed over to Psimon and placed a foot on his chest. She then reached to her boot to pull out a nasty looking serrated blade and flipped it in the air and caught it in one hand. The sight of the blade caused Psimon to look at her with wide eyes and gulp nervously.

"M-Mercy!" he pleaded however the emerald assassin chuckled in response.

"Aw… sorry, but you didn't say Psimon says," she remarked darkly. She then twirled her blade in hand before she stabbed it into his chest. Psimon shrieked in pain while the woman leaned down to his ear. "Now then, I have a few questions and you're going to answer them," she whispered into his ear. Psimon grunted in response and glared at her.

"A-And then you'll let me go?" he questioned. However Cheshire laughed in response.

"Oh no," she assured him with a wave, "If you cooperate I'll kill you quickly, don't and it'll be slow and excruciatingly painful for you. Either way I win and you die," she replied with a disturbingly chipper tone. Psimon whimpered as the woman ripped her blade from his chest and pressed it against his neck. "Now first question, why did the H.I.V.E. send Cypher to attack Tartarus?" she questioned with narrowed eyes.

It made no sense to her. The H.I.V.E. had to know that attacking X was the quickest way to draw him out and onto the warpath. Especially since the Church of Blood were at the head of this facility. Even if they had Warp and a semi-functioning portal they wouldn't be able to finish it before X came with the Outlaws and started to lay waste to them and their base. So what had they actually been hoping to accomplish?

"W-What? We didn't send Cypher anywhere!" the man stated only to scream as Cheshire stabbed him in the chest.

"Oh really, so why did Cypher bust into Tartarus Technologies and steal Warp's notes and files?" the emerald assassin questioned with narrowed eyes.

"W-why would we need Warp's notes?" the man questioned in confusion. "We have Warp himself, what possible purpose would his notes serve us?" the man demanded. Cheshire however narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know, you tell me since it was a bunch of H.I.V.E. soldiers and the Steel Clan helping her attack us," the brunette noted flatly. Psimon hissed in pain but didn't answer, causing the woman to grin nastily as she started to carve symbols into his flesh. "Oh please keep that up, I have a lot of anger to work off after what you did to my little sister!" she noted pointedly and Psimon grunted in pain.

"Cypher… she went missing…" he hissed while Cheshire narrowed her eyes, "We… we managed to recover her this morning… but she was missing data," the man replied through clenched teeth. Cheshire blinked at that and then narrowed her eyes. _'Cypher was taken, used to attack X, we found data on this place from… oh it's a fucking setup!'_ Cheshire realized and snarled beneath her mask.

Someone had gone to the trouble of finding then freeing or perhaps enslaving Cypher for his or her own use, to attack the Tartarus Building, which of course pissed X off after he found what was on her memories. It was easy to figure out that he'd go on the warpath and attack the H.I.V.E. with the usual reckless abandon he was somewhat known for… and draw him out of Jump City!

A somewhat lesser known fact about Jump City was that it had no outstanding warrants for X's arrest. Most countries had some kind of warrant or bounty on his head after his many years as both a thief and a mercenary. It was somewhat tempered by the fact no one was crazy enough to take him on, not even most bounty hunters after what he did to Dead Shot, but there were still some 'supers' who would try to cash in.

' _Someone wanted X out of Jump City, enough that they managed to get Cypher under their power and used her to lure him here,'_ Cheshire realized with growing worry. While she and X still didn't get along she'd admit he was an admirable godfather to Lian. She and Roy never really had to worry for her with X around. Moreover neither she nor Roy had to scare boys away from their daughter cause X had often already beat them to it.

That in mind the woman twisted the blade in Psimon's chest with narrowed eyes. "Who took Cypher then?" she demanded furiously. Psimon looked at her with a whimper as he responded.

"I-I don't know," he admitted and Cheshire's brow twitched. Moments later Psimon's pained screams echoed through the depths of the H.I.V.E. Facility…

00

One of the worst parts about her situation was that she hadn't slept a wink in years. That wasn't hyperbole either; it'd literally been eighteen years, six months, five days, four hours, and fifty-two minutes since she'd last been able to sleep. The H.I.V.E. was of the opinion that if they were keeping her on 'life-support' she was going to be working for them every second she was alive.

Of course this presented problems, the human brain wasn't built to go on zero sleep, but the H.I.V.E. somehow found a work around. She wasn't exactly sure the work around had left her mentally stable… actually she was fairly sure she'd long since gone insane. Whatever sanity she had left was strictly limited to the voice that tended to talk to her when she wanted the silence to be over…

Plus, she got to pretend that maybe someone was still looking for her…

' _Uncle… Drury… Kitkat…'_ her mind supplied the names. They had looked for her, she knew by the police files and news reports, but after so long they'd finally given up. She knew that X had also tried to save her of course, she'd tried to help him a time or too. But then the H.I.V.E. found out and tortured her. That hadn't been fun in any way shape or form, even as insane as she probably was that hadn't been fun.

She could imagine it hadn't been fun for X to get those videos of said torture either, but at least X hadn't had to live through it. Though really at this point she was almost used to the torture. Well till they went and upped the wattage and then it hurt like she could scarcely describe. The sad part was that she didn't mind the pain since it made the numbness she usually felt more bearable and reminded her she was still really alive.

People might ask what it was like to be in a brain case, truthfully there was no real way to describe it. Hell seemed to fit, the lowest deepest darkest pits of hell itself would probably be somewhat more comfortable but… she paused her internal whining, and yes she knew or at least felt like it was whining she just didn't give a rat's ass. Instead she focused the optics of one of her millions of bodies on the door to her chamber.

A moment later she watched as the doors blew outwards which flung them across the room, narrowly missing her braincase by mere inches. _'So close,'_ she thought with a mental pout. She then focused the optics of her 'chosen avatar' onto the entryway as a pair of orange skinned girls flew in. They then turned and fired green energy at a mess of H.I.V.E. Troopers and Steel Clan that were behind them.

' _Hmmm… nice legs on that one,'_ she remarked casually. The lack of a body had made her oddly appreciative of other people's bodies. Maybe it was her way of internally coping with the fact she was literally a brain in a jar. _'Ooh great hips, love the hair too,'_ she thought to herself. She tilted her 'avatars' head and watched the redheaded duo proceed to fling balls of green and magenta light down the hall before they turned to her.

"Well well, so this is the real Cypher," the older looking of the two noted with her hands on her hips. They were really nice hips and the bust was impressive too. _'Huh… I think I'm actually jealous of her, weird,'_ she noted to herself. Then again she'd been jealous of other girls bodies more times than she could count since her so-called 'upgrade' so it wasn't exactly a new sensation.

"Got to say, I'm not impressed," the elder girl noted as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder. _'Well fuck you too bitch,'_ she thought with a mental frown. It wasn't exactly like she had had much of a choice of her current arrangement after all! If she'd had a choice at all she'd have stayed in her old body! Not this bucket of tin and plastic that left her in sensory deprivation nine tenths of the time…

"This is more horrible than I imagined," she heard the younger one say. She looked close to tears and seemed familiar… _'Oh yeah I jacked her body for a bit,'_ Cypher recalled. She had a nice body too, not as nice as the older one but still young. She'd probably grow into a nice one like the older one, maybe nicer if she was lucky. _'Huh… I could probably extrapolate how she'd look if I knew any of her closest relatives,'_ she noted to herself.

"We must help her!" the younger one declared. Cypher's mind was elsewhere however as she looked at the younger redhead and then brought up a few files on her. _'Oh right she's the original Starfire!'_ she finally realized with a mental palm to her 'head'. She then pulled up some files on Blackfire and… _'Oh wow, not bad, she's going to be a knockout when she finally grows into her body,'_ she internally realized.

"How?" the older one questioned.

"I do not know… perhaps we could release her?" the younger replied.

"Yeah and then what, carry a disembodied brain around," the older one snarked. The young one frowned and glared at the older one.

"Well perhaps if you would attempted to think of a solution," the younger one countered.

"I say we just smash it," the older one replied flippantly. _'Huh, not against that plan actually, it'd be preferable to this literal waking hell I'm currently trapped in,'_ Cypher noted to herself with a mental sigh. It was kind of sad that she could think of dying and actually long for it… huh… she was morbid, very morbid, and probably insane… the H.I.V.E. seriously needed their heads examined if they thought this was a good idea!

" _ **She**_ is not an it and how can you say that?!" the younger one demanded.

"Because the last time I dealt with that thing it tried to steal our ship," she replied. Cypher paused and briefly dug through her files to find that incident then made a mental snap of her fingers. _'Oh right, she's from the Outlaws, the new Starfire,'_ she realized with a nod of her head. _'Which means Red-Hood and Red-Arrow are probably here… huh… karma is such an evil bitch,'_ she decided.

"That is no reason to destroy her! It is not her fault that the H.I.V.E. have made her do bad things!" the younger one declared firmly.

"She's a thing Koriand'r, not a person! Whoever that used to be is as good as dead, I might as well make her dead now and finish the job!" the older one stated hotly. Cypher 'blinked' and then looked at the redhead in shock. _'Now 'at is jus' rude! Ah might be a slab a' meat in a braincase but ah'm still a person dammit!'_ she declared in a distinct southern drawl. Well she declared it to herself… which was pointless… ugh…

"She's not a thing! She's a person and she's in pain!" the younger one countered. Cypher idly had her 'avatar' stealthily crawl out of the pod it was stationed in. She had it move around the two redheads to get a better view of them as they started to argue in a bizarre language she couldn't understand. _'Aliens, why did it have to be aliens? I mean I can literally look up any other known language,'_ she thought with a 'sigh'.

She listened to them argue for a few moments then internally looked over her options before she found one that seemed good. _'Alright the little one is from like… twenty years in the past, so Warp likely flung her to this time…'_ she suddenly paused, _'must resist the urge to make a Samurai Jack reference!'_ she inwardly declared. She then shook her avatars head and sighed.

' _Anyways, she's the young Starfire from the original Teen Titans… or where they the 'New Teen Titans?'_ she briefly considered with a hum. _'I mean technically speaking the original team had,'_ she paused and shook her head. _'Focus! She's from twenty years in the past, meaning she probably has one of their old communicators,'_ she mused to herself. She then brought up files on those old communicators and then made a mental 'aha'.

' _Now lets see here,'_ she thought as she looked over the blueprints for the old Titans Communicators. _'Oh wow, those are supposed to be security measures? I could break into one of these in my sleep… if I could sleep…'_ she thought distantly. She then did the mental equivalent of a shake of her head as she focused on the devices blueprints. _'Okay lets see. Umm… It works on an old wireless frequency and I should be able to hack into it right about…'_

Boop boop beep boop.

Koriand'r and Xyannis both halted their argument and glanced down to Starfire's waist. There they saw her Titan's communicator flashing bright green. They glanced back at one another a moment later before it gave another quick jingle. Starfire frowned as it did and she raised a brow as she unclipped the device from her belt. "That is not the noise my communicator usually makes," she remarked. Then paused as it made the jingle again.

"I think it's from an old earth show," Xyannis remarked with a frown, "Although why it's making that noise is beyond me," she remarked with a frown. Starfire glanced at the elder Tamaranean for a moment and then opened the communicator cautiously. The screen, which should've depicted the caller, was instead filled with static.

[ _Hello? Is this thing working?_ ] a voice questioned. It was a girl's voice albeit somewhat distorted, and seemed vaguely familiar to Starfire. [ _Hellooo,_ ] the voice called out in a singsong. [ _Huh… did I get the wrong frequency or what? Hmmm… no… and I could've sworn that those old Brotherhood of Evil files had the right one for breaking into these stupid things,_ ] she briefly wondered.

"Um," Starfire began unsurely, "Hello?" she questioned. Xyannis crossed her arms with a frown as she looked down at the communicator.

[ _Ah! So it did work,_ ] the girl remarked, [ _Hello there,_ ] she supplied and then paused, [ _Oh wow, it's actually kind of nice to finally talk to someone that isn't just some random voice in my head,_ ] she noted with a somewhat manic giggle. Starfire looked at the communicator strangely and then shook her head.

"Please, who are you?" she questioned.

[ _Well I suppose you'd best know me as 'Cypher zero point three',_ ] she replied after a moment.

"The Cypher," Kori whispered while Xyannis frowned.

"Please, anyone could break into the ancient software on Kori's little toy," the elder Tamaranean remarked simply. Kori shot a look at the elder Tamaranean for the shot but Cypher hummed in response.

[ _Look up,_ ] she stated. Kori and Xyannis both blinked then did as bade. As they did they saw one of Cypher's mobile platforms hanging on the ceiling. The mechanical body looked down at them and raised a hand to wave. [ _Hi there,_ ] Cyphere sent to them through Kori's communicator. The body then flipped off of the ceiling to land in a low crouch beside of her braincase. Seeing this Xyannis raised a hand to her ear.

"Oracle, we have a problem," the older redhead stated while Kori shook her head. She then gripped her communicator tightly and exhaled a breath.

"Cypher, are you well?" Kori questioned.

[ _I'm… kind of stuck in an eternal 'numb' feeling only broken up by horrible pain when my captors decide to punish me. Not only that but I'm also probably insane by now what with the lack of sleep for well over a decade. But other than all that, I'm alive… you?_ ] she questioned in return. Kori just stared at her communicator with a look of horror then shook her head and looked to Xyannis pleadingly.

The elder Tamaranean glanced at Kori and raised her hand as if to say she was busy.

[ _Wow, she's not very nice is she?_ ] Cypher questioned. Kori grunted in response.

"I am in the beginning of realizing that myself," she admitted with a frown. Xyannis hadn't been so hostile before, but then again that had been in X's presence. It was clear to her that Xyannis had a 'thing' for X and so it probably kept her on her best behavior. Out of his presence and it seemed her more 'ugly' nature kicked in. She then shook her head and looked back to her communicator.

"But please, I am Koriand'r of house Tamarus," Kori began with a bow of her head, "It is my pleasure to meet you," she offered. Cypher was silent for a long moment, but her mobile platform's head suddenly jerked to the side. Xyannis looked up as the body began to shake and grip at its head, seemingly in pain. "W-what is happening? Are you the alright?" the young Tamaranean questioned.

[ _ **ERROR**_ _M-My name…_ _ **ERROR**_ _I can't…_ _ **ERROR**_ _I don't remember…_ _ **ERROR**_ _my_ _ **real**_ _name!_ _ **ERROR**_ _I don't remember it!_ _ **ERROR**_ ] Cypher admitted urgently. Kori watched as the mobile platform then started to punch itself as Cypher started to utter garble gibberish that made little sense to the Tamaranean. Xyannis arched a brow in confusion while Kori quickly spoke into her communicator.

"P-please calm down! There is no need for you to be so distressed!" she told her however the machine woman's body fell to its knees and started to slam its head into the floor.

[ _ **ERROR**_ _Can't - can't - can't - can't remember!_ _ **ERROR**_ _Not my name - name - name - name!_ _ **ERROR**_ _Not my face - my face - my face - my face!_ _ **ERROR**_ _Not even my voice!_ _ **ERROR**_ _I can't remember any of it!_ _ **ERROR**_ _I can't remember - can't remember - can't remember - can't remember who I used to be!_ _ **ERROR**_ ] the woman rattled off as the machine body slammed its head into the ground and began to shake.

[ _ **ERROR**_ _They took everything from me…_ _ **ERROR**_ _My home…_ _ **ERROR**_ _My family…_ _ **ERROR**_ _My friends…_ _ **ERROR**_ _My body…_ _ **ERROR**_ _Even my name…_ _ **ERROR**_ _They ripped me apart…_ _ **ERROR**_ _And now all I have is a name that I hate…_ _ **ERROR**_ _Cypher, it means zero - zero - zero - zero_ _ **ERROR**_ _means nothing because that's all I've become!_ _ **ERROR NOTHING! ERROR NOTHING! ERROR NOTHING!**_ ] she frantically exclaimed.

What followed was a synthesized sobbing combined with electronic garbled messages about critical errors. The mobile platform that Cypher was controlling was frantically smashing its head into the ground while jerking around sporadically in what would be painful motions if it were organic. Kori gripped her communicator tightly as she looked at the machine woman and then closed her eyes.

She marched over and knelt down beside her then wrapped her arms around the mobile platform in a gentle hug. "No more pain," she whispered to the machine woman. "You are not the nothing," she continued, "Th-The Red-X said your name was once the Willow," she finished as she felt tears sting at her eyes. The mobile platform stilled and Kori briefly reached a hand up to wipe at her eyes.

"Kori what do you think you are doing!?" Xyannis demanded as she looked at the younger girl. Said tamaranean glared at her elder with narrowed eyes.

"I am being nice," she replied crisply. Xyannis muttered to herself in tamaranean then crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ugh, you know it's all this 'niceness' of yours that's really starting to irritate me!" the elder Tamaranean remarked, "I mean its fine around friends, they deserve it," she remarked with a brush of her hair then narrowed her eyes, "but that thing doesn't deserve it after everything its put us through!" she stated firmly. This was of course given the years she and the Outlaws had had to defend against the machine woman.

"Why are you being so hostile to her!?" Kori demanded furiously. She then stood up while Cypher started to twitch. "She may have done the bad things but she could not control herself! It is not right that you condem her for things that are not her fault!" the younger Tamaranean exclaimed and floated off the ground. Xyannis scoffed in response and narrowed her now glowing eyes dangerously.

"Oh that isn't what pisses me off, what pisses me off is what Oracle just told me and Red-Hood confirmed," the elder Tamaranean snarled. Unlike Koriand'r she did understand the whole 'secret identity' thing fairly well. Mostly cause unlike her younger counterpart she'd had to protect Lian from assassins who knew who Cheshire really was. That had not been fun, even if X had been there at the time.

"What could be so damning that you would think it alright to be so cruel to her?!" the younger Tamaranean demanded. Meanwhile inside her casings Cypher began to make plans. She was unable to kill herself, annoyingly, due to safeguards in her mobile platforms or she would've been dead years ago… but that said she did have a decent workaround thanks to Kori's close proximity.

Plus with tamaranean invulnerability there was a ten percent chance Kori would even survive! In her, admittedly insane, mind that was a negligible percentile and so she got to work doing the logistics of how she'd manage to kill herself.

"Cause I just found out it wasn't the H.I.V.E. who sent her after X," the elder Tamaranean remarked and stalked closer. Cypher used this as an added bonus as her security protocols could easily be bypassed if she could potentially terminate a target. Two targets just made it that much easier for her to circumvent the programming in her mobile platforms to finally put an end to this horrid existence she'd been cursed too…

"What do you mean? Did not the H.I.V.E. do this to her?" Kori questioned in confusion.

"They did, but someone stole her and sent her at X, apparently whoever it was didn't need Warp, just his research!" she growled and then glared at the immobile machine woman. "Further, Warp is here, but he came here of his own free will for protection!" she growled as she stomped towards Cypher threateningly. Her hands were suddenly lit on fire, magenta energy collecting in her palms.

"B-But then who was controlling her?" Koriand'r questioned. Xyannis stomped passed her and picked Cypher's mobile platform up by gripping and bending the armor on her chest and hefting her up.

"I don't know, but I'll bet she does!" she growled fiercely. "So why don't you tells us who made you attack Tartarus Technologies?" she demanded fiercely. Cypher's optics whirred as she zoomed in on Kori and Xyanni's position and then calculated the distance and speed something would need to fall from to crush her like a bug… heh… somehow that seemed almost appropriate in a bizarrely twisted kind of way.

[ _Data not found,_ ] she sent into the communicator to buy herself some time. Several Mobile Platforms began to stealthily crawl out of their 'holes' in the wall and then turned invisible as they scaled the walls and made their way to the ceiling. There was a large fixture directly above her, a projector or something, whatever it was she determined that the size and weight of the object combined with the height of the room were perfect.

"Oh do not give me that bull shit!" Xyannis hissed furiously. She pulled Cypher's mobile platform closer and started to growl. "You were broken out of here, then found less than a few hours ago! There is no way someone completely wiped your memories in time to get you back to the .E.!" she all but roared at the machine woman. Cypher tilted her mobile platform's head while the ones above began to loosen the fixture.

[ _Data not found,_ ] she droned mechanically into Starfire's communicator. Xyannis snarled and gripped one of her mobile platform's arms tightly.

"Tell me what I want to know," she growled then pulled the machine woman's face close, "Or I swear I'm ripping your arm off and beating you with it!" she snarled furiously. Cypher's mobile platform tilted its head to the other side.

[ _Data not found,_ ] she replied in the same mechanical drone. Xyanis growled furiously in response and began to rip the machine woman's arm off. Cypher quickly switched her consciousness out of the body before she felt a jolt from it. She then focused on getting the massive fixture, which she realized was a wireless hub of some kind, and drop it on herself and the two tamaraneans.

She would feel slightly worse about it too, but she didn't really like Xyannis.

However before Xyannis could rip her arm out of its socket, Starfire flew into her counterpart and knocked her to the ground. _'No!'_ Cypher thought as they went out of the range needed to crush her. _'ARGH! Couldn't you wait like five more seconds?!'_ the mechanical woman internally demanded. She then used her mobile platforms to focus on the two as Starfire held Xyannis down with glowing eyes and hands.

"That is enough!" she roared, "She has been savaged enough already without you making it worse!" the girl snarled. Xyannis snorted and then kicked Starfire off of herself. The younger girl flipped back and landed next to Cypher's braincase. _'Ha! Didn't think I'd have to say this but thank you bitchy tamaranean!'_ the somewhat insane girl thought as her other mobile platforms got back to work loosening the wireless hub from its moorings.

"I'm trying to find out who sent her to attack X and Gizmo!" Xyannis reminded the younger Tamaranean.

"There are better ways than treating her like a monster!" Kori retorted fiercely. Xyannis growled in her throat and gripped at her hair.

"Why does it matter to you?" the elder Tamaranean demanded.

"Why doesn't it matter to you?" Kori retorted, "You have been enslaved just as I have, just as she has!" she reminded the older girl, "you know what it is like to be taken from your home and family just as she was!" she continued. Xyannis snarled and then marched over and glared down at Kori. However as they did they heard Cypher let out a choked sob / laugh and looked to the younger girls communicator.

[ _ **ERROR**_ _I'm - I'm - I'm - I'm - I'm_ _ **ERROR**_ _so - so - so - so - so_ _ **ERROR**_ _sorry - sorry - sorry - sorry - sorry_ _ **ERROR**_ _Starfire - Starfire - Starfire - Starfire - Starfire_ _ **ERROR**_ _I - I - I - I - I_ _ **ERROR**_ _can't - can't - can't - can't - can't_ _ **ERROR**_ _good - good - good - good - good_ _ **ERROR**_ _bye - bye - bye - bye - bye_ _ **ERROR**_ ] the voice echoed before the two Tamaraneans looked up at a groaning sound.

A moment later both Kori and Xyannis leaped out of the way as the wireless hub fell down from the ceiling and crushed Cypher beneath its weight. The two tamaraneans stared at where the machine woman had been. Kori looked in horror at where the once girl had been. Xyannis gave a cry of frustration as she suddenly let out a snarl and punched the ground.

"Well that's just great!" Xyannis exclaimed, "Now we don't know anything about who she was working for!" she grumbled. Kori felt her brow twitch and glared at the older Tamaranean. She was starting to see why Cheshire had warned her about her. She seemed so different to the girl she remembered from Tamaran. However she inhaled a breath and stared at the ruins of where Cypher's braincase had been and whispered a prayer for her…

00

Naruto walked through the depths of the H.I.V.E. facility. His long coat swayed behind him as his chakra seemed to waft and wave off of her body. It twisted in midair and formed into purple-black shapes that seemed to drag and form into different shapes. Fangs, tails, claws, and other shapes, which seemed to dissipate mere moments later while the blond, clenched his fists tightly.

He saw several H.I.V.E. Troopers form up and narrowed his eyes.

"Wrong time wrong place boys," he began softly as the eerie shapes started to form around him once more, "I'm really **not in a playful mood tonight,** " he remarked as his voice deepened into a low growl. He then seemed to surge forward, a dark shape of a black wolf howled as it ripped through the guards on its way. None of them died, but several of them screamed in pain as they lost several limbs.

"Wimps," he whispered as he cracked his neck. He then marched further into the depths of the facility. He glanced at the map on his HUD and then smirked as he approached a pair of sliding doors. He walked inside and then frowned. _'What the fuck is up with super villains and those stupid sliding doors?'_ the man briefly wondered. He also included Gizmo in that list since the green dwarf seemed to like the self-opening doors as well.

Within he saw a large room with a number of monitors and a large chair in front of the monitors. In the seat was the familiar form of the Cybernetic villain known as Brother Blood. The man turned around to face the thief, and to Naruto it was very clear that time hadn't been kind to him. "Well isn't this a surprise," the man murmured as he slowly rose up, dressed in his usually long white robe.

"Mister Tempest," Brother Blood remarked. Naruto narrowed his eyes in response and then shrugged his coat off and tossed it to the side. "What? No witty banter? No clever quips or jokes? That's usually your thing," the man remarked. Naruto simply marched forward and then lifted him into the air by the front of his robes. "I see someone is angry," the man noted as he then lifted his arms and felt out of his robes.

Naruto looked down as Blood tried to stab him with one of his robotic limbs, only for the blond to vanish in a plume of smoke. Blood blinked in surprise as his robe fell to the ground and then groaned. "I really hate it when he does that," he murmured while Naruto grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him into the ground. The blond then cracked his neck while Brother Blood rolled back and then lunged into a flying kick.

Naruto mutely grabbed the man's outstretched leg then slammed him back into the ground with it. Brother Blood gave a groan of pain while the blond reached down to grab one of his robotic arms. He then lifted Blood by the limb and tossed him aside. The man stumbled and then fell into one of his monitors with a cry of pain. He hissed and then glanced to the side as Naruto marched towards him.

"R-really now mister Tempest," he began weakly, "I'm in my sixties… is all this violence really necessary?" he questioned. Naruto mutely grabbed him by his head and rammed him face first into one of his monitors before tossing him back. Blood groaned in pain and looked up as the blond approached him once more. Naruto felt his arm twitch as he marched to Brother Blood and glared down at him.

"Alright Blood," the blond began through barely concealed fury, "I want you to explain to me why I had Cypher in my building the other day?" the masked thief questioned furiously. Brother Blood frowned in response.

"So that's where she was," he murmured quietly and then grunted as Naruto placed his foot against his larynx.

"I don't want lip Blood, I want answers," the blond stated firmly. Brother Blood rolled his eyes in response and effortlessly lifted the blond's foot from his neck. He knew that had the blond wanted to actually keep his foot on his neck he wouldn't have been able to move his foot.

"Oh please mister Temptest, first of all I'm a cyborg who happens to lack a throat," he stated bluntly, "Besides that, if you'd ever bothered to attend any of our classes on basic human anatomy you'd understood that it's quite difficult for someone to talk when you put your foot on their larynx," he remarked and Naruto unfolded a thermal blaster from his forearm and pointed it at his head.

"True," he admitted idly, "And this is a much better threat," he mused. Brother Blood grunted in response and closed his eyes.

"Cypher was taken from this facility a week ago, and located less than a few hours before you arrived here," the man responded. Naruto blinked in response and then narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"So why was Psimon here?" Naruto questioned and Brother Blood sighed tiredly.

"I requested that he sift through Cypher's memories in an attempt to find out where she was taken and by whom," the man replied. "What we found was evidence that someone had been feeding off of her misery and using it to keep her from knowing where she was or what was happening outside of the 'jobs' she was sent to do for them," the man explained and Naruto went suddenly still.

"Feeding off of her misery…" he whispered as his mind went over any and all the different villains he knew that could do that. However he paused when he heard a beep inside his helmet and raised a hand to his earpiece. "Oracle I'm a bit busy here," he stated with a frown beneath his mask.

[ _X I've got some really bad news for you,_ ] he heard and frowned deeply.

"What?" he questioned then paused as someone else spoke.

[ _Barb I've moved our ship out of sight, contact Jay bird and the others and tell 'em to lay low while they're all still there,_ ] Roy suggested. Naruto raised a brow.

[ _Good, they'll be there any minute, I'll call Jason and the others and tell them to lay low,_ ] the redhead replied. _'Okay what the fuck is going on here?'_ the blond haired man wondered to himself.

"Would one of you please explain to me what the fuck is going on out there?" he all but demanded of the two. However he paused that thought and looked around at the sudden sound of a feminine laugh. _'I know that voice,'_ Naruto thought to himself and narrowed his eyes. "Hold that thought," he grumbled into his mouthpiece and turned his communicator off. As he did he stepped away from Brother Blood.

The elder man had both his organic and mechanical eye looking all around for the source of the noise. Naruto had already checked every kind of sensor his suit had but couldn't see anything outside of the norm. _'Makes me wish I had a magic sensor,'_ he thought with a frown. He slowly looked from side to side and then paused when he saw a shadow slither around the edges of the room.

"Pride," he hissed darkly, and then growled as a giggle sounded around him. He turned on his heel to watch the shadow form into a familiar shape of a bird. The black bird silently flew up into the air and then over to seat itself in Brother Blood's chair. The woman appeared with one leg crossed over the other and her cheek propped against her raised fist.

The young woman had sharp regal features with pale skin, yet not the pallor grey of her 'youth', with a curvy figure, lips painted black alongside her long sharp fingernails, bright ruby red eyes and long hair as black as the feathers of her namesake. She was dressed mostly in black with a sleeveless leotard with a 'loincloth' at the front, a pair of fingerless bicep length gloves, thigh length boots, and a cloak wrapped around her neck with the hood hanging at her back.

She also wore a familiar jeweled chain belt and two broaches on the front of her cloak.

"Nice to know you remember me," the woman remarked as she seemed to fade into the shadows and slip away. "I mean you never call, you never write," she remarked and then formed behind the blond haired man. "I'm really starting to feel ignored," she noted pointedly and Naruto clenched his fists.

"I don't associate with things that steal my girlfriend's body," he hissed at her furiously. The girl rolled her ruby red eyes and sighed in response.

"How many times have I told you I'm not a body snatcher?" she groaned with a hand to her face. She then lowered her hand and stood up from the chair with a soft frown. "I am Raven, the same girl you fought a fucking inter-dimensional demon for," she stated and then shook her head, "you just refuse to believe me," she noted with a sigh. Naruto snorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Kara-chan did a couple of questionable things," he admitted then narrowed his eyes, "But even at her lowest she never ate peoples emotions and she certainly didn't leave them as nothing but husks," the blond retorted with a dark glare. The woman pouted in response then glanced to the side as Brother Blood attempted to crawl away. He yelped as the woman raised a hand and several black spears nearly impaled him.

"Stay," 'Pride' ordered sternly, an amused smirk playing across her lips. She then turned back to Naruto who'd already put up his guard. He absolutely hated being around Pride, as much as she liked to pretend she was still Raven he knew better. There was very little, if anything, of his girlfriend left in that body. The face was the same, the voice too, but the inside was much less familiar…

"So what're you doing here?" the blond questioned. Brother Blood laughed before the dark bird could reply.

"Isn't it obvious mister Tempest," the elder man began, "she's able to eat emotions, and she obviously knew you were going to be here," the man left off and Naruto blinked in surprise and stared at Pride incredulously.

"You," he began and then snarled furiously, "You were the one who sent Cypher to attack Tartarus!" he accused her furiously. Pride frowned and glared at Blood for a moment and then turned to Naruto with a sigh.

"Technically I didn't send her anywhere," she remarked vaguely. Naruto scowled in response and glared at the girl.

"Then were you the one who was eating her misery?" he questioned bluntly. Some might think that would be a blessing, but it really wasn't. When Pride 'ate' the misery out of someone what it really meant was that she forced them to endure all their most horrible memories over and over and over in a near infinite loop while she would then feed off of the negativity those memories created.

Pride smirked in response as she twirled her finger in some of her ebony lochs.

"It wasn't anything personal, just had to keep her blind," she assured the blond.

"She's a braincase," he deadpanned and the woman stilled, "she can't see, hear, taste, or feel anything unless she's linked to one of her mobile platforms," he began as he clenched and unclenched his fists, "so unless you had one with you I really doubt that was even necessary!" he hissed as he clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides. Pride frowned in response and rolled her eyes.

"Oh alright I might've gotten just a little peckish while we were holding her," she admitted with a wave, "but in all fairness I could hardly resist," she noted and then grinned darkly. "I mean she was practically bathed in pure misery, hopelessness, and despair," she noted and hummed in pleasure, "not to mention all that wonderful agony," she remarked and then vanished as Naruto lunged at the girl.

Naruto ducked into a roll and then slammed his fist into the ground when he saw he hadn't caught the dark bird. Instead he looked all around, ignored Brother Blood and focused on finding the woman. He didn't have to wait long as her voice echoed out all around him. It seemed to bounce off of the walls and the distorted quality made him certain she was hiding in some random shadow somewhere.

" _ **Something the matter lover?"**_ the woman questioned playfully in an eerie distorted whisper that echoed all around him, _**"you seem awfully tense,"**_ she noted then giggled, _**"want to rest for a while and join me for a little stress relief?"**_ she suggested. Naruto growled low in his throat and looked all around for her.

"First of all, fuck off!" he snarled angrily. Pride hummed in response and he felt a finger on his shoulder. The blond turned and lashed out with an X-shuriken that went flying yet hit nothing as the woman vanished once more. He gnashed his teeth together and flexed his hands, the tips of his fingers lengthened into sharp claws.

" _ **Well that's not quite what I had in mind, but it**_ _ **is**_ _ **fairly close,"**_ the dark bird quipped from the shadows. Naruto felt his eye twitch as he clenched his fists at his sides.

"Second, my problem is the fact you decided to turn Cypher into a fucking snack!?" he snarled furiously. He'd admit he'd done some questionable things in his more recent years, but even he wouldn't be that unbelievably cruel to someone. Hell, not even Sasuke had managed to make it high enough on his shit list that he'd subject him to that kind of hell, and that was really saying something!

" _ **Oh why are**_ you being so dramatic about this," Pride questioned as she appeared once more. She was seated in a solid black throne, a pout on her face as she regarded the masked thief. "Its not like she wasn't already hopelessly suicidal, so I honestly didn't make things any worse for her," she remarked with dismissive wave. Naruto felt his brow twitch as he crouched and lunged at the woman with a roar.

Pride sidestepped a slash of the masked thief's claws and then sighed tiredly.

"Why must you always be so stubborn," she mumbled as she reached back and pulled her hood up to shadow her face. Her eyes seemed to burn as she did, glowing a bright crimson in the shadows of her hood. She then held her hands out and formed a field of black energy under Naruto before raising it upwards to slam him into the ceiling. The blond grunted in pain and then flipped out of the way as she tried to slam him again.

He landed on the ground and lunged at the woman, he leaped and flipped out of the way as she made several more ebony constructs and then lashed out with his claws. However Pride vanished into her soul-self and then reappeared behind the blond. "Seriously Naruto," the woman stated with a hand on her hip, "I'm telling you to stop!" she ordered yet the blond held up a pair of X's and hurled them at her.

She groaned in response then formed a pitch-black field of energy between her and the X's only to mentally pause. _'Why does this feel familiar?'_ she briefly wondered while Naruto appeared behind her in a static flash. In his hand a ball of swirling purple black energy writhed and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Pride turned just as the blond was about to shove the ball of energy into her, a black shield barely blocking it.

Naruto gave a low growl as he then dug his heels into the ground and started to shove Pride back. The woman grit her teeth as she was pushed back and into a wall with a grunt. She glanced down at the ball of energy between her hands then formed a second shield to block the next one. She grunted as she put as much effort as she was able into keeping the blond thief back.

"You… you know I'm not built for fighting," she murmured, "at least not a physical fight," she remarked. Naruto felt his brow twitch and tried to head butt her in the face. However she fazed into she shadows and shot off, much to the blond haired man's obvious annoyance as he slammed a fist into the wall. The concrete and mortar of the wall cracked and buckled beneath his strength as he took in slow steady breaths.

" _ **I much prefer a more… tactical approach,"**_ she remarked from the shadows. At that moment several blades of ebony energy shot from the ground and surged towards the blond. Naruto flipped over them effortlessly and then looked around with a glare. _**"Oh c'mon Naruto, can't we just go back to how things were?"**_ she pleaded. Naruto scoffed and dropped down onto all fours.

"With Kara-chan, sure… but you're sure as hell not her," he responded resolutely. With that he flung a flash bang out that revealed the girl's soul-self. The blond lunged at the ebony bird and slashed at it with his claws. However Pride swiftly moved out of the way and stepped out of her Soul-Self with a frown. Naruto landed and rolled into a crouch, he then lunged at the woman with a roar.

However she formed a dome around her in response that prevented the blond from laying a hand on her. Naruto didn't care; he was quite literally starting to see red, as he slammed a fist against the shield. Pride frowned when she saw the chakra literally start to leak off of his body and form into claws and other such shapes as he slammed his hand against Pride's shield. The woman in question rolled her eyes and sighed tiredly.

"Sometimes I wonder why I love an idiot like you," she mumbled then snapped her fingers. A second later flames roared to life around her shield and sent the blond flying back. However the blond then vanished in a plume of smoke and Pride snickered to herself. "Always with the clones," she noted with a shake of her head, "they can be fun on occasion, but," she left hanging. She then vanished as Naruto lunged at her from behind.

"Hold still will you!" Naruto snarled only to feel heavy chains wrap around his body from all angles. He blinked as he was then slammed into the ceiling and then back into the floor with a grunt. "Huh, this feels oddly familiar," he remarked and paused to think on why it felt so familiar… _'Oh right, she wanted to experiment that one time,'_ he briefly recalled and then yelped as he was flung into the air.

Pride casually raised her hand to form a black sphere of energy around Naruto, it completely covered him and he roared and started to kick and punch at the dome furiously. Pride flinched slightly as he did then rubbed at her temples while holding the masked blond in place. _'Can't hold him like this forever,'_ she thought. Truth was she'd be surprised if she could hold him for more than five minutes.

In the passed twenty years the 'balance of power' had shifted greatly. She was considered one of the most formidable magic users on the planet, beyond even Zatana Zatara herself. However, she was still **much** weaker than Doctor Fate, the Sorcerer Supreme of their world. That said, Naruto was considered on par with Doctor Fate and several other high tier heroes / villains on the planet.

It was more or less agreed upon by the vast majority of heroes and villains not to piss X off for that reason… this was especially true since the death of Superman. While the man of steel had two 'replacements' both seemed to be faulty in one way or another. The new Superman, once 'Superboy', only he was far less powerful. Then there was Power Girl, but she was far less 'noble' than Superman had been.

It made dealing with the high-tier villains difficult to be certain. Several of them were able to run amok before Naruto started to curb stomp them in the wake of Superman's demise. When asked about it he would always say he only did so because they were annoying him, but she knew for a fact he had a hero complex a mile wide and couldn't stand to see innocent people suffer. It was one of the many things she loved about him…

Pride shook her head of such thoughts and focused on the blond as he started to gather chakra and form a Rasengan. The enclosed space made a lot of his jutsu useless, but that one was unfortunately small enough for him to use. _'I need a way to incapacitate him without killing him,'_ the girl decided. She then got an idea and grinned darkly as an idea came to mind, as her skin seemed to turn a deep bloody crimson…

00

Jason Todd scowled as he and Warp hid behind some debris in the main area of the H.I.V.E. Facility. The elderly man was curled in on himself and muttering gibberish while Jason waved Xyannis and Kori over to his hiding spot. The two Tamaraneans landed next to him soon after and looked to Warp in surprise. Xyannis looked to Jason with a raised brow.

"What happened to him?" she questioned.

"Apparently he came here for protection from someone who was trying to get at his tech," Jason replied. He then looked up and briefly waved Cheshire over and the woman flipped over the rubble and landed with them. "Unfortunately it seems like the ones who sent Cypher got whatever they needed out of his notes," he finished grimly. Xyannis frowned while Starfire knelt down beside of Warp.

"You have grown so old," she whispered. The sound of her voice drew Warp out of his mutterings and he looked at her in shock.

"You're here, you're finally here!" he whispered in surprise then grinned widely, "Then that would mean that you have…" he demanded then looked to her waist, "my vortex manipulator!" he declared and reached for the device. However Jason grabbed his arm and held a gun to his temple. The man whimpered while the crimson masked vigilante narrowed his eyes.

"Now I know you weren't about to get grabby with my friend 'ere," he stated and firmly pressed the barrel of his gun against his temple, "now were you?" he questioned. Warp rapidly shook his head and Jason pulled his gun away from the man. "Good, Kori c'mere," Jason ordered and the girl briefly flew beside him and he pointed to the device on her belt. "Don't let Warp have that thing," he stated firmly.

She nodded her head then looked up as the ceiling suddenly collapsed. The Outlaws watched as rubble and debris fell into the H.I.V.E. facility and crushed several of the many incapacitated Steel Clan and H.I.V.E. Troopers. More important to them however was the eerie crimson ship that lowered down into the base. It was small in Kori's opinion, likely a personal craft, and it didn't appear to be made of metal…

"Fuck, its the Bio-Ship," Xyannis muttered warily. Hood nodded his head while Kori looked at them curiously.

"So the League were involved after all," Hood muttered to himself. Kori looked at him in confusion, however before she could ask what he meant she saw the ship open. A man walked out, or perhaps a teenager, given he looked rather young. He had fair skin with short black hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a solid black body-sleeve with red seams and a pentagonal bright red shield with an S on his chest.

The man glanced around with narrowed eyes and Hood frowned. "Fall back, don't let Super-fake see you," he whispered. Xyannis and Cheshire both nodded, the emerald assassin even vanishing into thin air as they moved back. As they did Hood grabbed hold of Warp with a frown. "Anything with a lot of lead around here?" he questioned. The man nodded his head and led them over to a massive door.

"Xyannis," Hood suggested quietly and the woman nodded as she pulled the door down, with some minor assistance from Kori. They then held the door over them as Hood pulled a mini-camera from his coat and set it up to watch the proceeding with a palm top he was wearing beneath his gloves. As he did he watched the new 'Super-Man' explore before a 'woman' seemed to phase into existence above him.

She was bald, with pale white skin, a slim physique, and bright red eyes; she was dressed in a black body sleeve with a red X over her torso, blue soles at the bottom of her feet, and a long blue cloak. The woman looked around as well, her eyes glowing brightly before she looked to the man with a thin frown across her lips.

"I don't sense anyone Konnor," the white martian noted. Her voice was stern and the man gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "I'll tell the others," she decided as she shot to the side. Hood narrowed his eyes as she did then glanced to Xyannis and Cheshire.

"I got a bad feeling 'bout this," he whispered. Cheshire punched him in the arm. "What was that for?" he all but demanded. Cheshire just narrowed her eyes and pointed at him as if that explained it. However they stopped and looked back to the feed from his camera as several more people stepped off of the ship. Hood counted four more, two men and two women, all people he knew.

The first was a young man, his 'younger brother' of sorts and replacement as Robin, Tim Drake, now known as simply _**Red-Robin**_ a fulltime League member. He was dressed in a mostly red padded body-suit with a black X shaped harness over his torso, armored black gloves and boots, a metallic cape that seemed segmented, and a black cowl that covered all but his mouth and chin, vaguely reminiscent of the Batman's old cowl.

The second was one of the women, the second Wonder Girl, Cassandra Sandsmark, now the current _**Wonder Woman**_. She is a tall statuesque blond woman with a red bodysuit that left her arms, neck, and shoulders completely bare, with golden armor worn overtop that in a decidedly more militant style than anything her mentor had worn. The inclusion of sword and shield, while rare for Diana, was somewhat expected.

The third was another man, this one being Bart Allen the grandson of Barry Allen once known as Impulse and now known as the current _**Flash**_. He wore, strangely enough, a costume very similar to Kid Flash, with red pants, yellow boots, a yellow 'top', with a red lightning bolt and red gloves. The major difference was his cowl which covered his entire head yet left his mouth clear, and the red lenses over his eyes.

Finally was a another young woman, she was Tula, the former girlfriend of Garth AKA Aqua-lad once called Aqua-Girl and now called _**Aqua Woman**_. She had chin length brown hair; tanned skin, sea-foam colored eyes, and dresses in a yellow scale-male top and bikini bottoms, with a green 'loincloth / sash' tied around her waist and a green neck protector with an A at the front of her throat, with golden bracelets and anklets.

' _Oh crap, they brought the entire league!'_ Hood thought with wide eyes, _'I mean even for X and our gang that is fucking excessive!'_ he thought to himself as he palmed his face to try and calm down. The only saving grace he could see was that the League didn't have any of the honorary members like Red-Star or Power-Girl with them. Kori on the other hand looked at the image with a confused frown.

' _I feel as though some of them are familiar,'_ she thought to herself as she crossed her arms and tried to figure out why they were familiar. Most familiar was the boy with the S on his chest, and that was only because even she was aware of the last of the Kryptonian species. Though to be perfectly honest, Tamaraneans were not fond of Kryptonians, they were quite literally their total and complete opposites after all…

"So no one else is here Miss M?" Red-Robin questioned as he walked off of the ship. The white martian flew next to the man and shook her head.

"No, I can sense the Steel Clan, but not Red-Hood or the other Outlaws," she responded. Kori looked to Hood to ask him a question but Xyannis swiftly put her hand over her mouth and shook her head. Kori frowned then looked back to the image they were watching as the young man with the S on his chest approached the others.

"I don't see or hear 'em anywhere either," he admitted with a frown. Red-Robin hummed in response as he raised his gauntlet and started to look over several data-files.

"Flash, check around," Red-Robin ordered distractedly. The yellow clad speedster nodded and was off like a shot. He moved like a blur while Cheshire quickly moved a device between the Outlaws that caused them to vanish from sight. The Flash passed them by without incident before he returned to his fellows with a shake of his head.

"Empty," the speedster noted simply, "if the Outlaws were here, they're gone now," he stated with a frown. Wonder-Woman frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Pity, I was actually looking forward to a rematch with the whore," she commented. Xyannis had to restrain herself from snarling and lunging out to attack the woman. _'Whore, ha! You're just repressed sweetie,'_ the woman thought with a dark glare at the image Hood held over his left hand.

"Now's not the time for old grudges," Red-Robin intoned. The blond woman rolled her eyes while Aqua-woman leaped up and started to look around. She shoved some rubble around and then sighed as she pulled water from a sealed container behind her back. She then used the water to cut the rubble into pieces as she looked around. Super-Man made his way to the others with his arms crossed over his chest.

"We should find Raven and bale," he suggested, Red-Robin hummed in response. As he did Kori looked up but Xyannis held her down with a firm glare. The younger of the two glared right back while Hood grimaced. _'Oh shit they brought Pride too… she must've found X already,'_ he thought to himself. He also made a note to keep Kori safe for her own good; there was no telling what Pride would do to her…

"No need to worry about me," came a sultry voice. Kori blinked as she watched a woman with deep red skin walk into the chamber. She had her left hand raised and a sphere of familiar ebony energy followed behind her as she sauntered towards the 'Bio-Ship'. Within the sphere, the form of X was revealed, asleep yet unharmed, while her four glowing eyes twinkled with mirth.

She then grunted as X started to stir, then focused and groaned as the blond fell back to sleep. "Could you maybe hurry up?" she pleaded as she raised a hand to her head with a visible grimace across her lips. "He's not exactly easy to keep sedated like this, even for me," she stated. Red-Robin nodded his head as he dismissed his holographic projections and approached Pride.

He paused when he reached her to look into the sphere where the sleeping X lay snoozing with a frown. He then reached back into his belt and pulled out a pair of strange cuffs connected by metal tubes to a circular apparatus. The man looked to Pride with a frown and she grimaced as she formed a pair of holes for X's arms to fall through. As they did Red-Robin grabbed his wrists and slipped the cuffs onto them.

The cuffs gave a sudden spark and Naruto grunted as Pride unceremoniously dropped him out of the black sphere. The red skinned demoness breathed a sigh of relief while her skin paled to a creamy complexion and she drew her hood back. "Oh thank Azar that is so much better," she remarked as she brushed her hair back behind her shoulder. "He's too stubborn for his own good sometimes," she remarked with a look at X.

Xyannis ground her teeth together as she watched, eyes glowing bright magenta. It was a bit of a well-known fact that she had a 'thing' for X. Unfortunately for most she was also absurdly possessive and prone to jealousy. _'I hate that bitch so much right now,'_ she thought darkly as she imagined the kind of things she'd do to her later. They brought a nasty grin to her lips, as most of them would be considered excessively violent.

Meanwhile Koriand'r frowned as she focused on Pride's face, and it was very familiar. She then tilted her head and hummed softly. Once when she swapped bodies with Raven she'd been somewhat concerned with her appearance… mostly because she liked her body thank you very much, but she'd also admit she was a bit vain. Although it looked like even if she had been trapped in Raven's body she just had to grow into it a bit…

' _Huh… I suppose Friend Raven only needs time and she'll be quite beautiful,'_ she noted to herself. Though as a point of fact, she did not believe even for a second that that was Raven. The way she moved was wrong; the tone of her voice was wrong, there was just an underlying hint of wrongness all about the woman. Some features were the same, yes, mostly her face, but there was just a wrongness to her that she really didn't like…

She paused her thoughts as X groaned and glared up at them.

"The fuck… did you just… put on me?" he demanded. He then grunted as the circular piece at between the cuffs suddenly lashed out. A pair of metallic tentacles wrapped around his torso and caused him to grunt in discomfort.

"It's called a chakra-inhibitor," Red-Robin responded curtly, "it was designed by Batman before his fall," he admitted. Naruto twitched in response and cursed the original Dark Knight as violently as he was able. That man had been the biggest thorn in his side to ever live, as far as he was concerned his power was being fucking annoying!

"We got what we came for lets go," Wonder Woman stated with a frown. Red-Robin nodded his head in agreement and then picked X up and shouldered the man with a surprising amount of strength.

"I swear… I'm gonna… fucking kill… you idiots…" Naruto growled at his captors. Red-Robin hummed in response and motioned for the others to follow. As they started to leave Red-Hood scowled and looked to the others, only for his eyes to bolt wide open when he saw Kori had vanished. _'Shit!'_ he thought urgently. He looked to Xyannis who looked down to his hand and they both gasped.

Kori had flown out and into the air over the 'League' and then lunged down and slammed into the side of 'Red-Robin' with a cry. The two of them tumbled and the redhead slid into a crouch before she glared at the league withy narrowed eyes. "You will leave my friend alone!" she declared, eyes glowing bright green. The rest of the league just stared at the girl for a moment, before Pride grinned widely.

"Well well well, Starfire," Pride remarked and then tilted her head, "its certainly been a while," she commented. However Kori mutely narrowed her eyes.

"I do not know who or what you are or why you have my friend Raven's face, but I am not the falling for it," she stated bluntly. Pride blinked at that while Naruto started to laugh to himself.

"Oh sweet Kami… she figured it out… in a few seconds!" he exclaimed laughingly then started to laugh uproariously. Pride growled at that while Red-Robin rolled back and onto his feet. He then glared at Flash sternly.

"No one around huh?" he questioned bluntly. The Flash shrugged with a nervous grin while Starfire clenched her fists. As she did X tried to get up, only to fall back down onto his face with a groan. _'Stupid fucking chakra inhibitor thing… I'm gonna find Batman's grave and then I'm gonna bring 'im back… then I'm gonna fucking kill 'im all over again!'_ the blond thought to himself furiously.

"So you're the original Starfire," Wonder Woman remarked. She looked the orange skinned girl up and down and then hummed. "Well, at least she doesn't dress like a whore," she murmured. Kori could swear that she could hear Xyannis teeth grinding and the older girl growling furiously. She shook that thought off however and focused on the 'League' instead.

"You will not be taking my friend anywhere!" she declared firmly. However she then felt a presence behind her.

"Actually, I think we'll take you both," she heard a voice from behind and then felt something slam into her from the side. She grunted, as she was sent flying into and then through a pillar. She landed against a wall with a grunt and then looked to the side as a shadow fell over her. She saw the white skinned woman, who had a sly smirk as her arm extended to grab her and she then lifted her up and then slammed her into the ground.

Kori felt a brief daze and then shook it over as she rolled back to her feet and formed a pair of starbolts into her hands. She flung them at the white skinned woman but she effortlessly evaded them and them seemed to sink into the ground. "What?" she questioned only to cry out as a fist impacted with her chin from below. She was sent reeling while the white skinned woman approached her silently.

Kori shook her head and lashed out with a swift punch, but the white skinned woman seemed to go translucent and her fist passed through her. Kori's eyes bolted open and she stared at her fist and the woman in shock. "How," she breathed then grunted as the woman kicked her in the sternum. She was sent flying back then gave a cry as the boy in the black / red outfit grabbed her from behind in a bear hug.

' _I am suddenly knowing why my friends do not like my warm hugs,'_ Kori realized as she kicked at the open air and then managed to throw the boy off of herself. She landed in a crouch but before she could do anything a sphere of water formed around her head and cut off her air. Kori gasped and struggled to breathe as she fell to her knees and clutched at her throat. As she did, Aqua-Woman mutely looked down at her, eyes glowing white.

Starfire struggled futilely as water was forced through her nose and mouth and into her lungs, rapidly filling them and causing her to drown. She tried desperately to make her way to the woman doing it, but her vision began to dim before she fell to her side as she did. She managed to look up at the impassive expression on the woman's face as her vision began to go dark.

"St-stop… you're killing her!" X growled as he tried to move. He also decided he was going to murder Batman, the asshat really shouldn't have made ways to take down every fucking hero / villain in the world before he died! Red-Robin glanced at X then motioned for Pride to pick him up with her powers. She did as bade then watched Red-Robin approach Aqua-Woman and place a hand on her shoulder.

"I think that's enough Tula," Red-Robin commented. Tula nodded her head in agreement and released the alien girl. Starfire gasped as she coughed up water and fell face forward into the ground. She spat out water and tried to catch her breath while Red-Robin knelt down next to her with a hum. "We only needed X, but I suppose this one will be useful for something," he remarked.

"W-what for?" X questioned. Red-Robin hummed in response causing the masked thief to twitch angrily. 'Since when is Tim-tim so fucking vague?' he internally demanded. He also internally cursed. _'Course the Cutie just had to muck things up, I was all set up to find out what these asshats were up to for the boss… dammit he's gonna be so pissed at me!'_ the clone thought to itself as it extended a claw of its suit to prick itself.

It exploded into a plume of smoke a moment later…

"The hell?" Super-Man questioned. He then saw one of the Steel Clan 'bodies' flip onto its feet. The Cyborg then formed a hand seal and vanished in a plume of smoke, only to be replaced by Red-X, coat and all, who narrowed his eyes. "Shit," Super-Man muttered while the League looked at him in shock. A mere moment later X vanished in a static flash and reappeared in front of Pride.

"Sup," the man quipped. _'Kaimon_ _ **Kai**_ _! Kyuumon_ _ **Kai**_ _!'_ the blond man thought as a wind seemed to tear off of his body and push Pride back. She grit her teeth and raised her hands to block the wind, then looked at X in shock as he twitched then vanished in a blur of pure speed.

The woman gasped as the thief ducked to knock her off of her feet and then kicked her away before he vanished once more. He reappeared above Super-Man and twisted into a kick that knocked the man face first into the dirt before he vanished once more. He reappeared behind Miss Martian and swiftly wrapped her up in her cape then turned on his heel to toss her into the side of her own Bio-Ship.

He then vanished once more and grabbed Flash before leaping high into the air and then twisting into a kick that sent the speedster flying, to keep him off the ground and thereby out of the way. He vanished and appeared behind Wonder-Woman, whom he grabbed with one arm to slam into the ground before he quickly vanished once more. As he did he vanished once more and reappeared by Red-Robin and Tula, where he instantly created a clone.

Alongside his clone the masked blond kicked Red-Robin and Tula away from Starfire. Red-Robin rolled back for a time then flipped onto his feet with a scowl while Tula managed to stay on her feet and narrowed her eyes. Naruto watched the two while his clone picked up Starfire then vanished in a static flash. The blond then watched the rest of the League get back up and grinned to himself.

' _Heh, looks like I still got it,'_ he thought to himself as he held his hands to either side.

"Well kids, I won't its been fun," he remarked as he formed ten rasenrings onto each of his fingers and grinned darkly as ten shadowy tails formed behind him with ten more. "But I will say this, better luck next time, if there even is a next time," he remarked with an amused chuckle. _**"Mini Rasenringu Rendan! (Mini Spiral Fear Wheel Barrage!)"**_ he then exclaimed as he threw his arms forward and sent the twenty Rasenrings flying.

The League cursed and quickly scattered while Naruto gave a mock salute and vanished in a static flash. The League was forced to avoid the many spiraling balls of death and destruction before ultimately they all had ceased. When they caught their breath and got back to their feet, Wonder-Woman snarled and marched over to Pride. The dark bird was seated on the ground with a frown.

'How did he slip a clone passed me?' she wondered to herself. The blond had always been tricky, but she'd always been able to tell him apart from his clones. They always had a tell about them, yet for once the blond had made a perfect clone. One that even she with all her experience couldn't see passed. It certainly worried her about what other kind of surprises the blond had in store for them.

She was pulled from her thoughts, and the ground, when Wonder-Woman suddenly lifted her up by the front of her cloak. She grunted and gripped the taller woman's wrists and glared at the blue-eyed bombshell heatedly.

"You did real great there Raven," she mocked and then snarled, "you caught a fucking clone!" she roared at the smaller woman. Pride winced and glanced to the side. "This is just great, our supposed expert on that asshat can't even tell the difference between him and his crazy clones!" the woman complained. Super-Man grunted in response and glared at the blond woman.

"Not like you helped out any," he grumbled irritably. Wonder-Woman scowled.

"Oh and what exactly would you have me do?" her teammate was silent but she decided to press on anyways. "You know that I've fought X before, he always wins! I swear that asshat has a bag of tricks so deep that he makes trickster gods envious!" the woman complained as she rubbed at her temples beneath her golden tiara / helmet. The others didn't comment but Red-Robin chuckled lightly.

"What the fuck is so funny?" the blond woman demanded. Her rage was quite clear and given her connection to Ares it made a lot of sense. "In case you haven't noticed we just lost X!" the blond woman reminded her comrade. However Red-Robin continued to chuckle as he lay on the ground, then looked at her with an amused smirk.

"X might've gotten away but now he has to come to us," Red-Robin remarked as he got back to his feet and brushed himself off. "Which means we can prepare for him and the Outlaws," he noted bluntly. Miss Martian looked at the 'leader' of the league with a raised brow.

"Why does he have to come to us?" the white martian questioned. Red-Robin, rather than answer, held up his hand. Within was a familiar disk like device, Warp's Vortex Regulator.

"Because if he wants to get Starfire home, he still needs this," he replied with a slowly widening grin… and the echo of hollow haunting laughter in his mind…

00

[Present day…]

(Tamaran, Starfire's Room…)

Raven stared at Starfire, a mix of surprise and genuine worry on her face. "You… could tell the difference between me and… Pride?" she questioned slowly. It was a point of fact that there was no difference between them. Pride was a part of her, the love of herself, all of herself. She was literally the culmination of all her traits both good and bad brought to the forefront, though clearly with a much darker outlook on life.

"Of course friend," Starfire replied as if it were obvious, "of all my friends I believe I know you the most intimately," she admitted with a nod. Raven raised a brow at that and the Tamaranean smirked slightly. "I have lived in your body, have I not?" she questioned and Raven made an oh with her mouth. She'd actually forgotten about that, though it still begged the question what differences Starfire saw between them.

"Exactly what made Pride different though?" she questioned curiously. She then watched as Starfire's eyes glazed over and she hummed thoughtfully. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes in thought as she did.

"She walked with confidence, her movements were fluid and seemed… almost arrogant, almost like everything about her movements were a show of how superior she was to everyone else around her. The way she walked always put emphasis on her hips, and the way she talked was in a low sensual tone," the redhead replied and Raven blinked and stared at her friend strangely.

"I thought you couldn't read human body language," she remarked. Starfire nodded in response and sighed.

"I cannot," she replied then smiled, "but I know you friend," she stated then frowned deeply. "You are very different to Pride, your movements are controlled and almost bashful by comparison. The way you talk is clearly a monotone, and when you do walk you never put an emphasis on your hips as she did, instead you stand straight and walk straight," the alien powerhouse replied. Raven hummed in response.

"So you can't read body language, but you know me," she guessed. Starfire hummed and then nodded her head.

"Indeed," she replied. "I know all of our friends, but with Cyborg or Beast Boy I would not tell the difference if the same thing were to happen," she admitted and sighed. "They are much more closed off than you are friend," she noted with a wry smile. That earned the Tamaranean a raised brow. "They never speak of their former lives, not even the Beast Boy despite his happy attitude," the Tamaranean noted.

Raven frowned in response then thought back to all the times that they'd interacted with BB and Cyborg. Strangely enough Starfire was right, they never once offered any real insight into their lives before the Titans. They knew that BB was once a member of the Doom Patrol, and that Cyborg had lived in Jump City… but that was really it. In a bizarre twist of fate, Raven was more open with Starfire than either of the boys…

' _Okay that's actually kind of strange,'_ the dark bird thought to herself. She then shook her head and looked at Starfire curiously. "What about Robin?" she questioned. The redhead winced at that and scratched her hair.

"He is… equally distant," she admitted. Raven nodded her head, as at least that seemed to be par for the course. "I have tried to talk to Friend Robin, and I have asked him about himself many times, but he does not wish to open up," the alien admitted with a sigh, "it does not help that I met him in the future and his future self was… different," she admitted and Raven raised a brow.

"What was he like?" she questioned. She was genuinely curious, mostly if Robin was even worse in the future than he was now. Starfire went silent and closed her eyes. Raven waited for her friend to tell her, only for Starfire to yawn. The dark bird felt her eye twitch as Starfire stretched her arms into the air.

"I am thinking that that is enough for tonight friend," she stated and then smiled, "I believe I am ready for the bed," she declared and then flew off to the side. As she did Raven inhaled a breath and then growled low in her throat. Why did it seem like Starfire was purposely making her wait for every last bit of this story that she could?!

00

(Jump City…)

Willow 'Chitin' Nigredo was a simple girl. A tomboy to be sure, but she really didn't need much to be happy. She grew up in Tennessee with a foster family, who took her in since her father, uncle, and other immediate family were either cons or gone. Her father, the Information Broker known as Two-Bit, her uncle, the notorious super criminal known as Killer Moth, and as for her mother… well she'd rather not speak of her.

Either way, she'd grown up in the south, and in the country no less. The only problem she had back then was, well… her powers immerged very early in her life. IE, when she was six and she had no control over them. At first it seemed like all she could do was secrete slime from her pores, and she became something of a joke, with names like 'Slug' being very commonly thrown in her direction as a result of her unusual ability.

It certainly didn't help matters that anytime she was anxious or scared she'd start to ooze a viscous, not to mention disgusting, neon-green slime like a certain something out of Ghosbusters. A few kids had even made it a point to say she'd become Slimer if she ever became a ghost… that one had actually hurt. Although one perk had been that her pores were always clear, meaning she never got acne unlike some of her classmates.

But even with the one perk to her powers it was little help when she was teased mercilessly for being a 'slug'. On top of that was that she'd been a bit on the chubby side back then, so of course the boys didn't hold back like they would for a pretty girl and made her young life miserable. As a result she'd become something of an introvert and got into video games to alleviate the feeling of loneliness.

Things remained that way for quite some time. She played video games; sometimes she played video games online when she wanted social interaction, she rarely left her room so no one saw her and she didn't start oozing slime everywhere due to nerves. That is until her early teen years when she learned the 'slime' could harden into chitinous armor… or that it burned through calories and fat like no ones business.

This was because her armor required energy to form, so literally super-charged her metabolism. Not only did she need to eat a lot more, but she also didn't gain a pound ever again after she started to experiment with what she could, and couldn't, make out of her armor. Although a very irritating drawback to this was that her stamina was horrible and she tired very easily.

It'd been summer when this happened, thankfully, and she hadn't needed to worry about school or bullies as she tried to make sense of what she could do. Within a few months of excessive experiments she'd learned a lot about her armor. Such as the fact she could make it look or feel like whatever she wanted, and make blades too! It also burned away her fat to the point her foster family had to take her out for a new wardrobe.

She'd primarily stocked up on dark clothes, not because she was a goth or anything, but because she just liked black. However with her new wardrobe, and drastically improved looks, she'd finally been able to walk around without feeling like a freak…

For all of five seconds.

Her 'slime' still came out and hardened whenever she was frightened. In her experiments she'd realized that it was some kind of a defense mechanism she must've developed without knowing it, or that was naturally inclined due to her father. The man did have a similar carapace, although he was unable to change it's appearance and his was diamond hard while hers was relatively weak by comparison.

Regardless, when she was put under the scrutiny of her peers her introverted nature came out in full force. She'd desperately wanted them to stop staring at her. It'd gone on all day till some jerk decided to hit on her until she suffered a minor panic-attack. It caused her armor to form nigh instantly as she felt threatened at the time, yet it also caused the armor to shred her clothes while she was left a quivering mess.

Her foster family had to take her home as a result, especially since the armor wouldn't come off and she was 'making a scene' as one of the teachers put it. Willow had a few unkind words for the woman, but she'd held them in. Mostly due to the fact that, at the time, she was still suffering from what appeared to be a case of social anxiety she hadn't even known she had.

After that school had been like normal. Most kids avoided her, some were actually afraid; others thought she was a freak. A few of the 'popular' girls were especially nasty to her, with names like 'Hornet' 'Wasp' or even 'Bug-Queen' becoming common. Willow recalled that a few months passed before the H.A.E.Y.P. sent them a letter stating she was invited to their 'prestigious academy'.

The school was a government-funded academy dedicated to training young Metahumans to harness and control their gifts in a safe, controlled environment, while also allowing them to socialize with others like them without fear of judgment. At least that was what the brochure had said. Her foster family had been all for it and sent her to the H.A.E.Y.P., where she began her life in Jump City at the age of fourteen.

She'd also met her uncle, Drury Walker, AKA Killer Moth.

Upon first meeting her, her uncle had been ecstatic to see that she'd inherited her father's 'gift' albeit in a slightly different way. He'd introduced her to her younger cousin, Kitten Moth, and she'd often visited them afterwards. When she wasn't training at the academy of course. Said training was decidedly different to what she'd originally imagined she'd be doing at the H.A.E.Y.P., but that wasn't all that surprising.

She could actually recall her first day at the H.A.E.Y.P. even now. She'd been a nervous wreck, she remembered sneaking into her first class and just staying to herself the entire time… actually that was basically what she did the entire time she was there. She still played video games, she still occasionally got online, but she was surprised to find several of her classmates were willing to play with her…

It'd actually been kind of nice, although that was back when the first Headmaster was still in charge. He'd genuinely wanted the students of the H.A.E.Y.P. to be able to learn to control their abilities and be around one another without fear of judgment. This was back before the 'H.I.V.E.' had sent the Headmistress to take over, and long before Brother Blood dealt with her and decided to take over the school.

The way she heard it all went down was that the first Headmaster had gone against the H.I.V.E., trying to steer most of the students with innately deadly powers away from the 'advanced courses' as they were called. The 'advanced' courses were actually one half assassination training and one half brainwashing. The H.I.V.E. liked good little soldiers that obeyed without question, so the second half made sense.

She'd made it a point to stay about 'average' in her grades so she didn't have to worry.

Though Blood had become a bit too interested in the whys and hows of her armor for her liking. As it turned out though his tests had been able to make the armor make a bit more sense. Her armor hardened from slime, yes, but how did she control the slime? A Psychic Field that only extended about one foot radius. With training she'd extended that to about two to five feet, but it was still slow going on anything wider than that.

But regardless, her uncle had eventually gone ape-shit and literally dragged her out of the H.A.E.Y.P. for some reason or other after attacking Brother Blood and somehow coming out unscathed. Not that she was going to complain, it wasn't like she was thrilled about staying near a mind-controlling nutcase like Brother Blood. Now she was living with her uncle Drury, and his daughter Kitten, and they had a relatively normal family…

Still… that raised a good question…

"How can you even come to these things?" Willow 'Chitin' Nigredo questioned with a glance at her uncle Killer Moth. The mutated mothman was seated beside of her while they were in a large theater. Willow had a PSVita in her hands, an ear bud in her left ear while the other hung to the side, as she idly played Borderlands 2 while only half paying attention to the 'ballet' that was being put on.

"I'll have you know I've attended many PTA meetings," the mutated moth man replied with an indignant huff. Despite his words Willow couldn't help but notice that there was no one else sitting near them. They had two seats open to either side, and no one dared sit behind them either… _'Right I'm so totally believing that,'_ the brunette thought to herself with a frown.

"So why am I here with you then?" she questioned. Honestly the question deserved to be asked considering she wasn't really interested in ballet. She wasn't even interested in normal dancing, why would she care about this fancy shit?

"Because this recital is important to Kitten and she needs us both here for moral support," he replied as if he was repeating from a prompt card. Willow idly glanced at her uncle with a raised brow and he crossed his arms over his chest. "And because if I have to suffer through this, then someone else is suffering with me," he stated resolutely. Willow smiled softly as she reached into her shorts and withdrew a smart phone.

"Here," she stated and tossed the phone to her uncle. The mutated mothman looked down at it for a moment then to her with a questioning expression. She idly hummed as she leaned back in her seat and continued to play her game. "I downloaded all your plans to that thing, make whatever modifications you want to 'em," she offered in explanation while she continued to play her game.

Killer Moth sat upright and then started to look over the phone's apps and such and looked to her curiously. "How'd you break into my computer files?" he questioned. The green eyed girl glanced at him with a bemused expression.

"Password Mothman, Username 'KillerMothRules'," she deadpanned. He grunted and rubbed at his head with a clawed hand.

"Right… guess that was kind of obvious," he admitted mostly to himself. Willow silently nodded her head while the mothman idly tapped a 'plans' folder he found on the phone. He then nodded when he saw that everything was there and wrapped an arm around his niece. "You are now officially my favorite niece!" he declared. Willow smirked with an amused chuckle.

"I'm your only niece," she reminded him and he laughed.

"I said officially," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes in response and glanced up and elbowed the mothman. He grunted then turned to see Kitten was on stage. The both of them groaned and put their game / phone away and sat with unhappy expressions as they watched the ballet… Their only consolation was that at least Kitten would be happy, and maybe they could convince her to do something they'd think was fun…

' _Like taking over the city!'_ Killer Moth thought with a laugh.

' _I think there's a convention in town next week,'_ Willow noted with a smile…

(3 hours later…)

Willow was sleeping in her seat while the ballet finally ended. Killer Moth and the rest of the audience suddenly stood and clapped for the performers. The ruckus startled Willow and caused her to fall and her armor to form. It started out as the 'slime' that covered her then quickly formed into a skin-tight armored exoskeleton over her body. It completely covered her from foot to head.

It was made of innumerous segmented, mostly, black plates with neon-green high-lights, a series of dark green plates from her groan up to her collarbone, more dark green plates on her shoulders, her hips down her thighs, along her spine, and formed over her shins and forearms with spikes at her shoulders, knees, and elbows. It formed a black armored helmet with enlarged white eyes, and a dark green stripe down the center.

She hurriedly looked around for an attack, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she realized the play was over. Her armor dissolved back into her skin a moment later and she stood next to her clearly amused uncle. The rest of the audience dispersed without comment, most of them had lived in Jump City long enough to be desensitized to meta's, and that Willow was a non-hostile one certainly helped.

"Still too skittish," he noted and the girl stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled in response then opened his arms as he saw Kitten walk towards them from the back of the stage. "Ah there she is!" he declared while Kitten hugged the mutated mothman. "Great show," he stated, though to be honest he'd only just barely kept from falling asleep like his niece… to a man who'd fought Batman several times, ballet was all kind of boring.

"Great," Willow drawled out and then yawned, "can we go home now?" she questioned. Kitten growled and rounded on the girl with narrowed eyes.

"Don't think I didn't see you sleeping through my performance!" she growled at her cousin who looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"Excuse me for not being interested in fancy dancing," she muttered under her breath. She loved her family, even with their quirks, but sometimes she wished her cousin wasn't such a girly girl…

00

 _ **TBC**_ …

 **AN** :

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STATIC - STATIC

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2

STATIC – STATIC

A card with a number appeared on screen…

5

4

3

2

1

STATIC - STATIC

A familiar redheaded girl appears. She looks very much like her usual 'Joker's Daughter' persona with her white skin, bright red hair, bright red lips, and vibrant purple eyes. The only real difference, aside from her clothes, was that at the moment she's holding her blue Rickenbacker Bass Guitar while seated on her desk in yet another new outfit.

She wears a back / shoulder-less unitard, it is purple on her left leg and the right side of her torso, while her right leg and the left side of her torso is covered by black and white diamond shaped checker pattern. She also wears bicep length fingerless dark-green gloves over her arms, a green belt hangs loose on her hips with a large pouch, her usual brown backpack, and knee length dark green buckled boots over her legs / feet.

She idly kicks her legs back and forth and then holds up a card with a smile. [A special musical entro] is written on the card. The girl then rocked back then forth and onto her feet as she walked over to an amp and knelt down. She plugged her bass into the amp and idly started to tune it, then inhaled a breath and bowed to the camera. She then started to softly strum the strings of her bass, before she began to play the tune to a theme song…

"He's gonna take you back to the past," the girl played as she lightly bobbed her head back and forth. "To play the shitty games that suck ass," she continued with a smile, "He'd rather have, a buffalo, take diarrhea dump in his ears!" she declared and then grinned widely. "He'd rather eat, the rotten asshole, of a road kill skunk then go down it with beer!" she continued as she played and started to sway her hips from side to side.

"He's the angriest gamer you've ever heard," she sung loudly and closed her eyes, "he's the angry Nintendo nerd," she sung with a wide smile, "he's the angry Atari Sega nerd," she continued and bobbed her head from side to side, "he's the angry video game nerd," she declared as she tapped her foot, "he's the Angry Video Game Nerd!" she finished and held the note for a moment…

As she finished she took a bow, inhaled a breath then exhaled and looked to the camera.

"But that's not me," she stated with a wide manic grin. She then fell over backwards with a monstrous laugh and hugged her bass to her chest tightly as she kicked at the air. She took a brief moment to calm down then rolled forward and hopped to her feet with her arms stretched wide. "Thank you," she exclaimed and bowed at the waist, "Thank you everyone, you're too kind!" she declared and then snickered to herself.

"What?" she questioned then leaned her Bass-Guitar across her shoulder, "you didn't think I only had a Rickenbacker because I like Haruko did you?" she questioned with a raised brow then smirked, "I also do kids parties!" she added with giggle. "Well enough about that," she stated and tossed her rickenbacker to the side. She then flipped back into a handstand then flipped from there into her chair.

She sat with her legs raised onto her desk, arms folded behind her neck, and a wide grin stretched across her face. "Hello everyone out there! I give warm and friendly greetings to one and all," she declared then paused, "Unless you're a monitor or Tim Drake!" she stated firmly then smiled. "I'm _**Harlequin**_ , Two-Face's Daughter!" the girl exclaimed cheerfully. She then leaned towards the camera with her eyes narrowed.

"And no, I'm not stealing 'Harley Quinn's' shtick, I was called Harlequin _**LONG**_ before that blond bimbo was even a thought in Bruce Timm's head dammit! _**She stole MY shtick dammit! But no one cares or believes me when I go to complain about it to random people on the streets!**_ " she all but snarled. She then inhaled a breath through her nose and sat back with her arms crossed over her chest.

"And no, I'm not exaggerating," she grumbled to herself and then snapped her fingers. A screen lowered at her side and showed a picture of a blond women in a… strange outfit, that barely made any sense. The redhead idly reached into the pouch at her hip to pull out a metal rod, which she then extended into a pointer stick, and pointed at the blond haired woman with a stern expression.

"Exhibit one, the only person to use the 'Harlequin' name before me was Molly Mayne, who eventually married Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern, and wasn't much of a villain due to her overt altruistic nature. I took over as 'Harlequin' back during the Silver Age and remained Harlequin despite Marcie Cooper who took on the mantle in the eighties while I was kind of missing," she explained.

She then blew a breath into her crimson bangs and crossed her arms.

"Marcie was eventually thrown in jail, and then another new Harlequin showed up then was never heard from again, and I didn't make my own big reappearance until the big three issue JLA TITANS event where we had to save Cyborg's soul and he actually contacted me for help, I mean ME of all people!" she stated giddily as she brought her hands to her face with bright eyes, then paused and held a hand to her ear.

"Wait… why am I Harlequin if I'm Two-Face's Daughter?" she questioned and then cupped her chin with a soft hum. "I have no idea, I actually did the same thing back in the silver age too, so it just kind of fits, plus I was called 'Harlequin' way back when I was still a member of the original Teen Titans so ha!" she admitted with a nod of her head and then sighed as she briefly recalled the old days.

"Yeah, I worked with Donna Troy, Wally West, Garth, Roy Harper, and Dick Grayson," she stated with a sigh and a nod, "or as you likely better know them, Wonder-Girl, Kid-Flash, Aqua-Lad, Speedy, and Robin," she amended then smiled softly, "Yeah, good times, good times," she whispered. She was silent for only a moment before she snorted and snickered to herself. She then wiped a mock tear away and grinned widely.

"Well anyways, that's enough 'bout that! I'm here to answer your reviews you lucky people who commented!" the girl exclaimed as she leaped up and then held a hand up high. "So I say to all thee, rejoice good fellows, for your reviews have been answered!" she declared dramatically, "Rejoice I say!" she exclaimed and then laughed to herself, holding her ribs and then breathed a sigh.

"Anyways, sorry for the wait but real life decided to be a jerk," Duela began and then crossed her arms over her chest, "The Author has to work ya'know so he can't always help it if his free time is eaten up," she noted with a nod of her head and then scratched her head with a nervous grin. "On top of that this chapter was a real bitch to write for some reason and he had trouble with it," she admitted and then cleared her throat.

She idly pulled her phone out of the pouch on her hip and looked at the reviews.

"First up is," she began and then pointed to the side, "Drum roll please!" she exclaimed while pointing to a familiar baby Ursa. The Baby Ursa was happily chewing on what looked suspiciously like a human femur. Duela stared at the pet she was gifted by one of the reviewers and then pouted. "Why are Ursa so hard to train?" she wondered as she looked to her phone and brought up a drum rolll.

" _ **Toa Naruto**_!" she exclaimed. She then calmed down and sat with one leg crossed over the other. "Well looks like ya didn't need ta worry 'bout ol' blackie!" she declared and then hummed softly. "Funny enough the author looked for a good pic of Xyannis, but they don't seem to exist on the Internet for some reason. I mean given how she looks and how little she wears this is kind of strange in the extreme," she admitted with a shrug.

"As for all the other's, we do intend there to be at least a couple other pairings but we'd much rather you see 'em unfold rather than tell you now," she stated cheerfully then flicked her finger across her phone. "Hi _**Kid Coheed**_ ," she stated with a wave, "The Power Ring isn't technically a throwaway, but it doesn't really matter. There is a reason he got it in that future and it's kind of bleak," the girl admitted with a grimace.

"We thought Xyannis fit as well. Unlike Starfire it makes sense for her to be overly sexual given her appearance in the comics, and her anger and aggression don't feel out of place either since those were traits of hers. It's funny but the author even thought that Xyannis might've replaced Starfire in the New 52 or something and just said she was Starfire to get Roy and Jason to help her," the girl admitted then hummed.

"And of course the future has shifted, whether its good or bad is kind of up to you guys, especially on the case of Xyannis and the others," she stated with a nod, "The teams don't really have 'hard counters' to one another. Naruto is more of a jack-of-all-trades due to his Jutsu and experience, and Jinx is a Meta, not magic based. Her mother was the sorceress Jinx, who used natural energy to use her powers no less," the girl noted.

"And no, that isn't something made up, the Jinx in the comic totally does use Natural Energy as a power source, she absorbs it through her feet which is why she doesn't wear any shoes. That is actually cannon in DC!" she declared with a grin. She then calmed down and flicked her finger against her phone once more. "Hey _**DocSlendy**_ , nice to hear from you again!" the girl stated cheerfully.

"Thanks! And yeah it's funny how few people seem to know anything about the Tamaraneans, especially since Starfire never tried to hide any of it," Duela noted with a shake of her head. She then glanced at her phone and smirked. "Call my name and save me from the dark," she singsonged then grinned, "Sorry _**Reven228**_ , but the author loves Evanescence!" the girl declared with a grin.

"Hey _**Devilscreed**_ , nice seeing 'ya again!" Duela declared, "and yeah… it's funny but we can't either. The Cartoon Blackfire is just mean for the sake of petty spite and cruelty, the original Blackfire from the comics was even worse when it comes to how she treated Starfire, so we tried to ground Blackfire and make her at least a little more sympathetic without making her into a monster as well," the girl explained with a nod.

"Yo _**OBSERVER01**_ , nice to know you're still watching!" the girl exclaimed with her index finger and thumb circling her right eye. "Anyways, no, never claimed to be Lex's daughter, though I have said I'm Darkseids Daughter," the girl admitted then pulled her Boom Tube Generator from her pocket. "Where do you think I got this thing from?" she asked with a wicked grin.

"Nice to know someone recognized what that ring meant, _**tamagat**_ ," the girl stated with a wink then hummed. "As for The Green, I think it doesn't work in space, IE, once you leave the atmosphere where no life can exist it loses power and is vaguely useless. I mean you could probably wear it, go to another planet and it might work but that also depends on whether or not the mystical force of The Green is limited to Earth," she mused aloud.

"This of course raises the question of the exact limitations of The Green as it's never clearly outlined in any comics to the Authors knowledge. That said he assumes that the Green can't overcome Dark Matter, which is what outer space is made up of, thereby why it doesn't work in space. Not to mention you have to recall that most planets aren't necessarily green, while Tamaran was and a few others, some aren't," she finished.

She then paused when she notied several eyes were most likely on her at this point and glanced around shiftily, "Anyways!" she declared, " _ **DBlade59**_ , this is probably the last of this segment for the 'Future' story, it'll pop back up later but we have another story to tell that takes place on Earth instead," she explained with a nod of her head. She then glanced back at her phone and clicked her tongue.

"No, _**Kiue Jin**_ , we don't play Pokemon Go, mostly because we prefer the old games over it," she admitted with a nod. "The Author has been playing 'Marvel Future Fight' recently however so if you play it you might've seen him around it. And the Author has noticed that too, he's trying to be vague with some of the 'future' characters since they won't really be around for long but thanks all the same!" she declared cheerfully.

"Aw hey _**PugTheMagician**_! Me bored is almost as bad as Jinx from LOL being bored! And we all know what that looks like!" she stated with a somewhat troubling smile. She then paused as she saw that half of the review was actually blocked from her by strange black bars. "What the hell?" she questioned then glanced around shiftily. Her camera seemed to clip and then distort before a man in a suit appeared in a dark room.

-Hello Pug, I'm the author,- the man stated with a curt bow. He then straightened and looked to the reviewer. -Duela's mind was fractured, that is all I can say right now, but I will tell you that her parents deaths just exacerbated a problem that was already there,- he explained and then crossed his arms behind his back. -That said, lets let our little psycho have her fun now… kay?-

The screen returns to static before Duela's face fills the screen with a concerned frown. "Hey! What just happened?" she demanded and then glanced all around. "Mister Author Dude, did you do something?" she questioned warily. She then shook her head and backed away from her camera. "Err, yeah, anyways," she stated unsurely as she glanced around her room with worry.

"Actually _**PFMF**_ , if you can find the authors Deviant Art account you should be able to find a couple of his drawings for this story. He plans to upload a couple more when he gets a chance but for now there should at least be six of 'em," the redhead explained with a nod of her head. "Actually it's DUELA _**Edrick Twilight Legend**_ with just one l," the girl stated and then glanced at her phone.

"Unfortunately _**Cerulean Knight**_ , Blackfire and Naruto dating in the future timeline won't be shown as it'd be too strange to put a flashback in a flashback," the crazed clown stated and then grinned widely, "We're not Deadpool after all!" she declared and then her face fell. "I miss working with Deadpool… I mean like, I really miss him," she admitted and then crossed her legs with a sigh.

"Hmm… oh hey _**D N Walker**_ , well we might put Naruto with the Suicide Squad at some point… probably have Waller actually hire him instead of him being captured as that would be nigh impossible for anyone to do," the redhead remarked distractedly. "Sorry _**Evil Reviewer**_ , but Two-Bit was an OC, still is, kind of cool he fit well enough to be confused for an official character though," the redhead admitted with a soft sigh.

"Um… lets see _**Guest**_ , I've met the one from Birth of the Seekers, I met one in Red-X Rising, I met another in Dark Lord Plus, I met another in…" she paused and actually blushed. She then chuckled nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "Actually that one wasn't posted and it never got beyond a few paragraphs but lets just say he and I ended up together," she admitted and then coughed into her hand.

"Oh hey _**NeoNazo356**_ , the author wanted me to say hi for him and that he's glad to see that you're still around!" Duela stated with a friendly wave to the reviewer. "Sorry but there are way too many reviews here for me to answer 'em all, I'll try an' keep up with 'em from here on out though!" she declared and then sighed once more as she placed her fists against her cheeks.

"Kurama's around _**jontron23088**_ , he's kind of sleeping right now," Duela replied and then sighed. "Thanks _**Guest**_ ," she stated dejectedly and looked to her phone. "Hey _**Ryuunoshin**_ , glad you like that he holds back. Some people think it'd be better if he just outright curb stomps everything. The Author feels that'd be kind of boring," the girl admitted and then rubbed her face.

"Don't worry _**Guest**_ , the author just had to deal with real life for a bit and didn't have enough time to really focus on writing. It might become a problem but at the moment he can't really tell. He does at least have a plan for the next story arch though," the girl explained and then sighed to herself as she finished the reviews. "Oh great now I'm all depressed," she grumbled to herself and blinked.

"Oh hey Mister Author Dude, what's up?" she questioned as she looked to the sky. "What? Oh yeah sure dude, my origin is up next?" she questioned and smiled. "Oh that's cool, so I finally get a legit origin and not some cop out after I die?" she questioned as she briefly picked at her ear. "Cool… hey wait, what do you mean you're preparing something nice for me to make up for it?" she questioned as the screen cut off…

STATIC - STATIC

STATIC - STATIC


	10. Laughing Mad PT1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 8**_ : _**Laughing Mad PT. 1**_ …

00

(?)

A familiar girl with white hair leans back in her father's former chair. Her feet are propped up on the computer in front of her. She idly twiddles her thumbs as she looks at a number of different screens. On one it shows the Titans, together in a group. In several others it shows each of the individual members. Yet her sole eye was trained on another screen, one that showed a number of statistics for each of the titans.

"Quite the interesting specimens, aren't they," Wintergreen remarked as he approached her from behind. He placed a tray down onto a small table next to her, a steaming hot cup placed on it. The girl glanced at him from the corner of her eye and then silently picked the cup up and took a sip. "Careful, it's still hot," the man remarked. She ignored him as she sipped the coffee and then narrowed her eye.

"Is there anything in particular you're interested in?" the man questioned. The girl took another sip of her coffee and then hummed.

"Not particularly, just trying to understand him," she murmured. Wintergreen arched a brow.

"Pardon?" he questioned.

"My father," she responded as she crossed her legs and frowned. "All this intell, all this surveillance, graphs and charts, techniques and weaknesses," the girl remarked as she waved her arm to the side. "All this, for a bunch of punk kids," she stated flatly, despite the fact a few of them were technically older than her. Wintergreen frowned in response and then tightened his features.

"The Titans are hardly your ordinary children ma'am," he noted pointedly. The girl glanced at him and hummed softly.

"Perhaps," she allowed then sighed, "but do you agree that his clear obsession with them was unhealthy?" she questioned. The butler was notably silent at that and she smirked. "Thought so," she chirped in a cheerful singsong and then turned to the monitors with a frown. "That said, my father's death is an insult," she remarked and took another sip of her coffee. "One we can't simply let go unpunished," she stated with a frown.

"Like what happened after your brother's death miss Rose," Wintergreen questioned. The girl stiffened at that and then reached to the side of the chair to press a few buttons on the armrest. Instantly one of the screens changed, upon it the image of a dried up husk of a teen, lying on the rain covered streets of Jump City. Her sole eye softened as she saw it, and then darkened at the headline.

- _ **The Death of The Ravager**_ -

"I suppose his obsession started with this," she murmured and Wintergreen nodded.

"They took his heir from him, so he tried to take something from them in turn," the old man replied, "The city, their leader, their friend, it didn't matter what it was that he took from them, he just wanted them to hurt, at that point," he intoned with an incline of his head. Rose simply hummed and then traced the edge of her coffee mug.

"Perhaps," she murmured and then reached to the side to bring up several other images. These showed Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Kaldur in the Tower. The photos were taken by a number of spy-bugs planted in the Tower by the traitorous once Titan known simply as 'Terra'. "But it looks like they've decided to recruit new members," she remarked as she took another sip of her coffee.

"Indeed, they could prove to be a problem," Wintergreen remarked. Rose idly glanced at the pictures of the three and clicked her tongue.

"We have a generalized idea of what two of them can do based on reports of Wonder Woman and Flash," she noted as she brought up files on the two in question. She then frowned at the sight of Kaldur. "But that one is a total unknown," she remarked bluntly and Wintergreen hummed.

"Perhaps we could assume a similar skill set as Aquaman," he suggested. However Rose shook her head in response.

"Too much room for error," she replied with a flippant wave, "what we need is concrete evidence of his skills and abilities, as well as the other two," she stated. "While we could just assume they're the same as their older counterparts there is also the possibility that they have a few tricks up their sleeves," she noted. Wintergreen nodded his head in agreement and rubbed his chin.

"Further," Rose began and Wintergreen looked to her curiously, "we potentially have this one to contend with as well," she added as she began to type on the control once more. In doing so she brought up several images and video feeds of Red-X. Wintergreen watched them all with a quiet hum while Rose narrowed her eye. She then drummed her fingers as she watched Red-X's speed and strength seemingly increase at a moments notice.

"Impressive," Wintergreen admitted. Rose grunted and frowned.

"He's a complete unknown, no data on him or his abilities, he popped up after Father passed so no surveillance of any kind, his mask and suit completely hide his features and a lot of his body language, his voice is masked by the suit, and to top it all off no one is willing to 'sell him out' if they even have any information on who he is under that mask for fear of his reprisal," the white haired lass explained and Wintergreen nodded slowly.

"And given what abilities he's shown thus far, attempting to predict them may be next to impossible without further data," the elder man mused aloud. Rose simply grunted in agreement as she continued to watch what little video they had of the thief. "So what would you suggest?" he questioned. Rose hummed and then downed her coffee in one gulp before she gasped and then look to Wintergreen.

"First we need to get in contact with our 'friend' in Dayton Industries," she replied crisply. Wintergreen nodded and then looked at her curiously.

"Then what ma'am?" he questioned. Rose laced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head before she answered.

"Then we sit back and watch the fireworks Wintergreen…"

00

(Jump City, California…)

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto was completely and utterly bored… when he was bored, he had a tendency to go on walks. Unfortunately those same walks tended to be what he would call 'enthusiastic walks'. The H.I.V.E. had learned the hard way that letting him go out without supervision was the quickest way for weird things to happen. Though thankfully he was so bored he didn't feel like causing mayhem at the moment…

Instead he was out and about Jump City, as he'd tried Titans Tower, but the kids seemed to be away and couldn't come out to play. Although the newbies looked interesting, he planned to 'introduce' himself to them when his suit was finally fixed. For now he was more interested in alleviating his boredom. Unfortunately the number of 'fun' things for him to do was surprisingly lacking in Jump City.

' _Partially because I prefer being out in nature,'_ the blond admitted to himself with a sigh. It was one of the things he genuinely hated about Jump City, that it was so 'modern' and had strayed so far from nature. In the Elemental Nations the only comparable village was Ame no Kuni, but even they were closer to nature than the people of this world. Tech seemed to rule this world, while nature ruled his own…

' _Hmm… maybe that actually means something,'_ the blond considered then shrugged, _'I'll mention it to Giz later,'_ he decided with a yawned. He had ultimately decided to head back to his old apartment to clear it out. If for no other reason then because he still had stuff there he wanted to keep. There was no earthly way in hell he'd leave anything of value behind for someone, most likely the Teme, to find and track him with.

' _Should probably scrub the place down while I'm at it,'_ he decided with a frown, _'just in case Kiba came along with that asshat,'_ he noted with a nod of his head. He knew, he just knew, that Sasuke couldn't be alone in this world. Konoha wasn't exactly going to send one man to retrieve him after all, especially not someone with Sasuke's track record for putting him in terminal condition.

He paused his thoughts as he noticed a moving van in front of his apartment building. _'New tenants?'_ he briefly wondered then smiled, _'sweet, we needed some new faces 'round here,'_ he noted to himself. He then placed his hands in his pockets and approached the back of the van. He heard someone swear in the van and arched a brow; it was a girl with a low voice.

' _Well well well, what have we here?'_ he thought to himself. He chanced a glance inside and saw a slender girl with olive skin and waist length thick blond hair in a ponytail. The blond instantly took note of her athletic build and dark grey eyes. She was dressed in a black tank top, blue jeans, and brown boots. _'Not bad,'_ the blond thought to himself as the girl started to come out of the van.

The girl saw him and raised a brow. Naruto was instantly struck with an eerie sense of daja'vu as soon as he saw her face. _'Do I know her from somewhere?'_ he briefly wondered. As he did the girl looked at him appreciatively for a moment then frowned. "Who are you?" she questioned. The blond shook his head and smirked in response as he tipped his hat in her direction.

"Names Naruto, I'm movin' out," he replied, "but I saw you were movin' in an' thought I might offer you a hand," he replied. The blond girl frowned in response. She admitted that the boy was pretty good looking, from what she could see, but she didn't want some random stranger touching her stuff…

"Thanks, but I got it," she responded as she brushed passed the other blond. _'Still seems a bit familiar,'_ Naruto thought as he watched her walk away.

"Artemis, is everything alright out here?" the girl turned as a dark haired woman in a wheelchair made her way down a ramp. _'Huh… I always forget this place is wheelchair accessible,'_ Naruto noted to himself as he glanced at the woman. He also took a look at the girl, Artemis apparently, and noted they had a relatively similar facial structure. _'Either her sister, mother, or aunt,'_ the blond decided to himself.

"I'm fine mom," the blond girl replied. _'Nailed it,'_ the blond thought to himself, _'though why do they both seem so familiar? I feel like I'm missing something seriously obvious here,'_ the blond haired youth thought with a frown. The dark haired woman wheeled herself over and focused on Naruto intently.

"Who's this?" she questioned with a glance at Artemis. However before the girl could answer Naruto offered a hand to her as well as a smile.

"Names Naruto, I'm movin' out," he explained once more. The elder woman arched a brow then smiled and accepted his hand. They briefly shook hands and then stepped back from one another while Artemis watched on.

"It is nice to meet you, Naruto," she replied then smirked, "given your accent I'm going to guess your name is Japanese?" she questioned. The blond silently nodded his head. Technically he was from an alternate universe but Japan had a similar enough culture that it was basically interchangeable. Plus it was one hell of a lot easier to explain… wait, accent?

"I have an accent?" he questioned curiously. The woman nodded her head.

"It's very slight, but still noticeable," she replied. Naruto frowned to himself at that. _'Huh… so is that why Giz kept the vocal synthesizer?'_ he briefly considered and then shook his head. That was a thought for later. Meanwhile Artemis rolled her eyes and turned to the apartment building.

"Yeah whatever," Artemis noted withb a shake of her head, "Anyways mom I'm going to put this stuff up in the apartment," she declared with an incline of her head. Her mother nodded as the girl made her way inside. As she did the elder woman glanced at Naruto curiously.

"So you're moving out?" she questioned. Naruto nodded his head. "Any reason why?" she questioned. She asked mostly because the rent was cheap and she was worried that there was something wrong with the apartments, but also because something seemed a bit off with the blond haired boy.

"I just felt like bunking with some friends," Naruto responded with a shrug, "Y' know, save some money and all that," he replied. The woman nodded her head slowly and then wheeled herself to the truck. Naruto instantly walked with her and picked up a box she tried to lift up. "Here, let me," he bade and the woman smirked.

"Well aren't you helpful," she teased. The blond boy grinned in response.

"Just doesn't seem right not to help if I'm able," he replied. The woman shook her head and then held out her hands.

"You can help, but I'm not an invalid," she noted pointedly. The blond shrugged and placed the box in her hands. She placed it on her lap then looked to a large box with a frown. "That one however…" she began only to widen her eyes as the blond picked it up and onto his shoulder with one arm. "Is full of weights…" she murmured softly. Naruto just grinned and scratched the side of his head.

"Heh, I'm stronger than I look," he admitted as he picked up another large box. The woman slowly nodded her head then frowned. She looked the blond up, then down and hummed in thought.

"Metahuman?" she questioned. Naruto smirked in response.

"Well I'm no alien," he quipped playfully. _'Not from space anyways,'_ he mused to himself. "'Sides that, this city is sick with 'em," he stated with a firm nod. Not that he was one it was, again, easier to say that than to try and explain what he actually was. Especially since he was apparently a lot stronger, faster, and tougher than a normal human at base level. The woman slowly nodded her head then sighed.

"I knew that when I decided that we should move here," she admitted as she wheeled her way out of the truck. Naruto followed behind her as she went up the ramp and into the apartment building. "I just didn't think I'd see ones who weren't either super villains or common thugs," she admitted and Naruto chuckled in response.

"Trust me, I've never been common," the blond remarked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He then paused and hummed thoughtfully. "Although I have been called super a few times before," he quipped and the older woman rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to know," she stated pointedly. The blond rolled his eyes as they moved up to the third floor on an elevator.

"So why'd you decide to move to Jump?" Naruto questioned curiously.

"It's safer here," she responded. Naruto glanced at her strangely, but the elevator stopped and she wheeled out before he could ask. He followed her to her apartment with a frown. It was one he recognized as belonging to some guy he'd only seen once or twice since moving in. _'Huh… I guess he finally moved out or something,'_ the blond decided with a mental shrug. As they entered he saw the blond girl was opening one box.

"Hey mom, have you seen my…" she began then abruptly cut herself off when she saw the blond. "Wait… so you weren't just flirting with me?" she questioned. Naruto blinked and then raised a brow.

"Why would I," he began then shook his head and frowned, "no, I really did want to help," he stated with a sigh. _'Why does every woman I meet think I'm flirting when I offer 'em a hand?'_ he wondered to himself. He was honestly just trying to be nice! Why was that such a big deal and why didn't anyone believe it? Were the guys in this universe really that bad that they didn't offer to help without other motives?

Upon seeing the look of frustrated confusion on Naruto's face, Artemis' mother took pity on the blond and offered an explanation. "We're from Gotham," she explained. That caused Naruto to snap out of his thoughts and visibly grimace.

"Yikes… that explains a lot," he admitted. Especially since it made sense if they came to Jump because it was safer. Metropolis, Gotham, Keystone, Jump City, Central City and such were ripe with villains. But Gotham was by far the worst of them. It was one of the few places he'd been too in recent years he was in no hurry to go back. Though he had made a friend there she was a bit off kilter… and that was honestly putting it mildly.

"Gee thanks," Artemis deadpanned and then walked to the blond with a sigh. "I'll take those," she stated and held out her hands. Naruto glanced at the girl's mother and she smirked and nodded her head. Naruto shrugged in response and handed her the box with weights. Artemis, unprepared for the amount of weight in the box, very nearly fell to her knees but caught herself and stared at the blond with wide eyes.

"What the," she began and her mother chuckled.

"He's a meta," the woman stated. Artemis looked at the blond strangely for a moment then sighed. The blond then turned with a grunt as she stubbornly carried the weights to the side while Naruto looked on with clear amusement. He then glanced to the mother as she touched his arm and pointed to the side. "You can set that over there," the woman remarked. The blond responded with a mock salute and did as bade.

An hour later and Naruto whistled to himself as he literally carried a bed frame on his shoulders into the apartment for the 'Crocks'. The blond girl had a cup in her hands and looked at him strangely. He'd since removed his hat, flak jacket, and shirt, revealing the sleeveless black compression shirt he wore underneath. She'd already thought the blond was attractive; his impressive physique simply added to that fact…

' _Me like,'_ she thought to herself with a smirk. She then hummed as he carried the bed frame to what was designated as her 'room' in the apartment. Technically she'd have to share it with her mother but that wasn't too bad. _'Better than having to worry about random vagrants and criminals all night in Gotham,'_ she admitted to herself. Sure it kept her senses sharp, but it was hell trying to get a good night sleep.

That said she glanced at Naruto as he put the frame down and brushed his hands off.

"So are you always such a Good Samaritan?" she questioned curiously. The blond scratched at his hair with a sheepish grin.

"Me? Nah, just thought I'd offer a little help to the new tenants before I leave," he replied and Artemis slowly nodded her head. She then watched as the blond rolled his arms for a moment and walked out of her room. _'Shared room,'_ she reminded herself with a mental frown. That was going to take some getting used too, even if it was only until they got fully settled in and could afford a bigger place.

She shook her head as she followed the blond into the main room where her mother was nursing her own cup of coffee. The elder woman idly noticed her daughter was checking the young blond out from behind and smirked. "Having fun?" she teased and Artemis blushed. Naruto, ever oblivious to anyone else's romantic feelings towards him, just grinned at the older woman.

"Well I wouldn't call it fun," Naruto remarked with a scratch of his head, "but it was a decent enough work out," he noted with a nod. Artemis stared at him strangely as he crossed his arms behind his neck with a wide grin. "And it was better than me aimlessly wandering 'round town to alleviate my boredom," he added with a nod. The last time that happened… well the 'Motor Heads' had found out what a bored Naruto did to gangsters.

"Well I'm sorry I can't offer much in return," Paula Crock admitted. Naruto waved that off with a pleasant smile.

"It's no problem, I was just being nice," he responded. He then glanced at their stuff and hummed softly. "You guys probably don't have any food right?" he questioned. Paula shook her head in response.

"I was planning on ordering a pizza if you want to stay for dinner," she responded. However the blond shook his head as he gathered up his things.

"Nah, I wouldn't want to impose anymore than I already have," he replied. Artemis snorted in response and looked at him with a smile.

"If you helping us get our stuff inside in a third the time it'd normally take is imposing," she began and then grinned, "then by all means please impose some more," she stated cheekily. However Naruto shook his head in response and placed his hat onto his head.

"Sorry I do have to clear out my place too," he reminded her. Artemis pouted and Paula nodded her head in understanding. She then wheeled herself over to the blond and offered her hand.

"It was nice meeting you," the wheelchair bound lady stated. Naruto nodded in agreement and accepted the hand.

"You too," he responded kindly. He then clicked his tongue as he pulled his wallet out and offered the lady a card. "Here, in case you ever need me for something," he offered and the woman accepted. She looked at the card and noted an orange spiral shape with the name 'Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto' beneath and a phone number.

"Business card?" she questioned curiously. Naruto chuckled in response.

"I tend to do odd jobs around town every now and then," he responded. Which was actually true, he'd earned most of his legitimate cash that way. Hell, with his clones he had a fairly decent business model with it… _'Maybe I should focus more on that kind of work,'_ he considered to himself and then shook his head when he noticed a look on Paula's face as she regarded him carefully.

"So a mercenary of sorts?" she questioned. However Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, just odd jobs," he responded. "I do a little landscaping, cooking and stuff like that," he responded. Artemis paused at that and looked at him in shock.

"Wait, landscaping? As in you work with plants and such?" she demanded. Naruto blinked and slowly nodded his head. "And you cook too?" she questioned slowly, seriously wondering where this guy had come from. _'And if they have any more,'_ she added mentally. The blond nodded his head in response.

"I am a man of many talents," he declared with an incline of his head. Artemis smirked.

"Is modest one of them," she mocked. Naruto simply chuckled and then clicked his tongue.

"Well on that note, it was really nice to meet the both of you," he stated then gave a mock salute, "take care," and with that he turned on his heel and walked off. As he did Paula couldn't help but notice her daughter's eyes following him and smirked mischievously.

"He seems nice," she noted and Artemis nodded, "and cute," she added only for Artmis to groan.

"Mom, please don't start," she pleaded. However Paula smirked in response.

"So you weren't just checking him out?" she questioned. The blond girl groaned and tried to bury her face in her hands…

00

(Tartarus HQ…)

Mikron O'Jeneus Junior, better known as Gizmo, grumbled to himself as he tried to patch up the Red-X Suit. The extensive level of damage it'd sustained was far beyond anything the tiny terror had ever anticipated. Though as he thought about it, he could admit that it was probably just a matter of time before he did find trouble. He was basically a magnet for trouble after all, even when he wasn't the direct cause…

The Tiny Terror wasn't sure what to make of Naruto's apparent enemy. Especially since he was clearly a significant threat. The Titans had gone full force on Naruto and the blond had literally made them look like idiots. Meanwhile this new guy could fight toe to toe with Naruto and nearly gut him on top of it. That painted a very vivid and honestly terrifying picture of just what the guy was capable of doing.

Despite his coarse language and all around bad attitude Gizmo was not an idiot. He knew that if push came to shove Naruto could take out a fair number of individual super heroes on his own. Not just the Titans, but actual big name heroes. Gizmo had ran a fair few simulations on the matter and if Naruto went full force on Batman without giving him any time to plan or learn his tricks, he'd win outright.

The problem was that Batman was an asshole, a fucking stubborn asshole that didn't want to stay dead! He'd eventually get back up and find some crazy way to take Naruto out, either with a machine or by sheer luck! The guy had a track record and it was going strong for a reason. Worse, Naruto still had a few hang-ups with outright killing someone that wasn't psychotic, which Gizmo hated to admit but he agreed with.

Killing random people was silly in his opinion, at least when they hadn't done anything to him beforehand. Further, it was just going to put them higher on the priorities of the big league heroes and that was something Gizmo wanted to stay away from. His father had been of the same opinion, which was perhaps why the vast majority of tech used by villains was typically bought from the man…

' _Huh, maybe I should call Dad and see what he's up too,'_ the tiny terror considered for a moment then quickly shook his head of the thought. His father had never been much for support; he'd always believed that he was too dependent on advanced tech. His dad could make a lethal weapon out of a stapler on a moments notice, he preferred to make a laser out of a game console or something… needless to say it was a bit of a sore spot.

Regardless, Naruto could almost definitely overpower some of the other big name heroes. Though, from his simulations Gizmo could say that if Naruto did fight them he would eventually lose by proxy of them getting used to him. At that point Gizmo wasn't certain what Naruto would have left to use against a hero, if he had anything, but it would have to be pretty epic to save him.

Gizmo quickly shook his head of those errant thoughts and returned to his point. That being that whoever fought Naruto clearly didn't have the same kind of restraint as the blond. That lack of restraint was frightening, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that he was someone on par with Naruto. Needless to say, anyone on par with their heavy hitter was bad news, especially for the Titans.

' _They beat Slade on a fluke last time, this guy won't go down so easily,'_ the tiny terror mused to himself. He also looked at the, admittedly, useless armor he put on the X-Suit with a frown as he wracked his brain to think of a solution. Unfortunately most of the mundane ways, IE a tougher metal, would weigh the suit down or were simply too rare for him to get his hands on expediently.

Which meant he had to try and think of a more esoteric way to fix the armor.

' _Mother of fucking Christ why does this shit have to be such a fucking pain in my goddamn ass?!'_ the Tiny Terror mentally complained as he ran his hands over his bald head. His internal desire for a beard also reasserted itself and he made a note to allow all the hair to grow on his face so he could pull on it. That aside he tried to think of anything that could strengthen the suit without being too out there.

After a moment the bald boy grunted and crossed his arms in a huff. "Fuck this shit I'm watching TV," he grumbled as he reached for his remote. He then turned to a screen, which then blared to life on the news. "Aw man, why do I always," he began only to pause when he saw the words 'Volatile Promethium' in the caption boxes. _'Wait, what?'_ he wondered and then reached to the side to turn up the volume.

[-and its nice to know that even in the absence of our usual heroes, Jump City can be at ease. Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Aqualad are on the job,] the news anchor reported and Gizmo rolled his eyes. He honestly didn't care. [And in other news, early this evening Dayton Industries announced that they would be re-conducting experiments on the synthetic alloy known as Volatile Promethium,] the man said and tapped his papers.

[For those who don't know, Volatile Promethium was a controversial alloy created by none other than Steve Dayton, the current CEO of Dayton industries five years ago. The alloy was shown to absorb and generate great amounts of energy, but the chances of the alloy being abused were too great and so mister Dayton had the bulk of it destroyed,] the man explained. Gizmo rolled his eyes in response.

[Despite this some has survived, and several scientists at Dayton Industries hope to run a battery of tests on the sole remaining piece of Volatile Promethium before its radioactive half-life ends and it turns inert,] the man continued and Gizmo paused. When Volatile Promethium turned inert it was called 'Depleted Promethium' instead. The applications of Depleted Promethium, even a small bit…

"HA!" he exclaimed and shot to his feet, "I can totally work with that!" he declared and hurried out of his lab to find Naruto. Elsewhere a certain pink haired girl was crawling around in the vents of the former H.A.E.Y.P. She briefly paused at a grate and pushed it open before she glanced around. She also pulled a note pad out and made a few observations before she moved on.

' _Well getting this place back in order is going to be a chore,'_ she thought with a mental sigh. They would need Mammoth to move the rubble, Kyd Wykkyd to teleport it out of the facility, and Gizmo to make most of the repairs, meanwhile Angel could focus on any of the 'high up' areas in need of repair. Given her own powers and abilities, she was going to be doing little to help… which is why she'd decided to scout the place instead.

' _God why couldn't I get a more useful power?'_ she wondered with a sigh. Probability based powers sounded awesome, until you realized how hard it was to control them. This was especially true for her own as they seemed to go wonky whenever she was in the same general area as something like a broken mirror or walking under a ladder. It was far worse on Friday The Thirteenth however, as her powers just went insane for no reason.

The H.A.E.Y.P. had even tried to use this sudden flux of her powers to their advantage, only to realize that alongside the power boost was a total lack of control, which tended to crush, smash, or generally destroy things. As a result the H.A.E.Y.P. decided her wonky powers were too dangerous and sent her out to the middle of the desert, completely alone, every Friday the thirteenth to wait for it to end.

' _Please let Gizmo have finally figured out a way to fix that,'_ the girl inwardly pleaded. She was honestly sick of her powers causing her just as much trouble as they caused everyone else. Plus it sucked not being able to carry a phone since they literally exploded in her hands. Gizmo had made their communicators heavily shielded to protect them from her powers, but it also made them bulky and heavy…

The girl paused when she heard a metallic groan around her. She then looked down and realized she was on one of the large grates in the vent over an empty hallway. Unfortunately while she was thin and light, she wasn't light enough for the grate to support her weight. _'Oh shit,'_ she thought and with a scream fell out of the vent. Yet before she could hit the ground she felt a pair of arms scoop her out of her fall.

She immediately opened her eyes to see Naruto looking at her worriedly.

"You okay?" he questioned and she slowly nodded her head. The blond breathed a sigh of relief then grinned cheekily, "Good, I mean I know the sky looked a little funny today but I didn't expect this kind of rain," he noted. Jinx just murmured something under her breath as the blond placed her back on her feet. She braced herself with the boy's arm as she tried to catch her breath and recover from her scare.

"Th-Thanks Tempest," the girl began and exhaled a shaky breath. Naruto smiled and patted her shoulder comfortingly as she recovered from the near spill. Meanwhile Jinx was looking at the blond nervously. "S-So where did you run off too today?" she questioned curiously.

"I went to clear out my apartment," he replied with a shrug, "I figure it's cheaper living here," he noted with a sly look. Jinx idly nodded her head then frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Wait, you have clones, why did it take you so long to get that done?" she questioned. The blond idly scratched the back of his head.

"I also scrubbed the place down, on the off chance someone found out I was there," he admitted. Jinx hummed in response and nodded her head in understanding. "So did you need anything else?" the blond questioned. The rosette was silent for a moment as she fidgeted in place and looked around nervously. _'Okay, now is as good a time as any to tell him you like him,'_ she thought to herself.

' _Just take a deep breath, calm down, and,'_ she began only to pause at a noise. She and Naruto both looked down the hall to see Gizmo hurrying their way. _'Damn it Gizmo,'_ she thought as the tiny terror scurried to his friends. He came to a halt with panting breaths and then grumbled about short legs. After a moment he'd caught his breath and looked up at both of his friends with a wide grin.

"Tempest I have great news!" their diminutive friend declared. Naruto arched a brow and then glanced behind him when he saw Angel, who walked towards them with an impassive expression, though to be fair it was her most usual expression. "Tempest I think I found a way to make your armor," he paused when he noticed the odd tension in the air around his friends.

"Uhh… am I interrupting something?" he questioned curiously. Jinx gave a nervous grin and shook her head, although inwardly she was screaming in frustration.

"No, we're fine," she stated a bit too cheerfully. Gizmo also noticed an odd twitch to her eye, which he knew meant she was lying to him. Though to be perfectly honest he didn't care. "What'd you have for us Gizmo?" the rosette questioned. Gizmo stared at the both of them strangely while Angel hid a smirk behind her hand.

"Eh… right," Gizmo murmured with a scratch of his head. He then looked up to Naruto with a wide grin on his face, "Anyways Temp, I figured out a way to make your armor nigh indestructible!" the tiny terror declared with a grin. Naruto raised a brow and looked to Angel who shrugged.

"For once the troll is actually right," she stated with a wave of her hand, "He's found a way to improve your suit's exoskeleton without having to make it obscenely heavy," she admitted. Gizmo shot the Thanagarian a look while Naruto grinned widely.

"Lay it on me Giz," Naruto ordered however Gizmo shook his head.

"Be better if I just show you," he stated and then scurried off on his spider legs. Naruto looked to Angel and Jinx for a moment then followed after him. As he did Angel looked to Jinx with a wry smirk.

"Still can't talk to him about your feelings?" she guessed with a teasing smirk, which caused Jinx to glare at her heatedly.

"Not one word," she growled and then stomped after the boys. Angel arched a brow and then followed after the other girl with a smirk. She whistled a tune to herself as they followed them into one of the old mad science labs. On one of the screens around the room Gizmo displayed a material known as 'Depleted Promethium'. Angel and Jinx looked at it curiously while Naruto leaned back with a frown.

"So this stuff is what we'll need for my new suit?" Naruto questioned and Gizmo nodded his head.

"This and a little something something from Angel," Gizmo replied with a grin. Naruto glanced back at Angel curiously and the woman produced a metal sphere from her belt. She tossed it to the blond who caught it and then looked at her with a raised brow.

"And this is?" the blond questioned," he questioned.

"Nth Metal, extremely light and also works as something of a magical nullifier," the thanagarian medic explained. Naruto looked to the metal ball with interest while Jinx all but gaped at the girl.

"How long have you had that?!" she demanded incredulously. Angel mutely rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Long enough," she responded. Jinx narrowed her eyes in response.

"Then why didn't you use it on Tempest's old suit?" she demanded. Angel frowned in response.

"Aside from the fact I have a limited supply," she remarked, "because I knew Gizmo's design for the suit was subpar and likely to be destroyed within a week of use," she responded bluntly. She then glanced at Gizmo who was busying himself with the computer. "Which it literally was," she stated. Jinx frowned at the crack against her friend's abilities while Gizmo scoffed and waved the woman off.

"Who cares?" Gizmo demanded and then leaped into the air with a grin. His spider-legs then shot out of his backpack and he sat on them while he pulled out his controller. The tiny terror then started to maneuver it and eventually the X-suit, with a modified design, appeared on the screen. "With this and some Depleted Promethium the X-Suit will be literally unbreakable and resistant to magic!" he crowed with a mad laugh.

Naruto hummed softly as he looked at the sphere of Nth-metal and then clicked his tongue thoughtfully. He idly glanced at his friend with a raised brow and then tossed the ball of Nth metal his way. Gizmo yelped as he reached out and grabbed the ball of metal out of the air. He breathed a sigh of relief while Naruto stepped forward with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown across his face.

"Alright so we need some of this stuff to start with," he guessed. Gizmo grunted but nodded his head in the affirmative. Naruto frowned at that and then glanced at Gizmo. "So where exactly do we get it?" he questioned. His friend grunted as he crossed his legs and placed the Nth Metal in his lap. He then started to bring up images on the screens as Naruto watched on with interest.

"Normally Depleted Promethium is exceedingly rare," the tiny terror admitted as he brought up images of what looked like men in green serpent styled costumes. "This is mostly due to the fact the Cobra Cult once tried to us Volatile Promethim to make a bomb and so production of the metal ceased," he explained. Naruto frowned in response and looked at his friend curiously.

"Volatile? Isn't that another word for explosive?" the blond questioned. Gizmo shrugged in response.

"Not really, but in this case it kind of is," he admitted. Naruto hummed in response as the tiny terror brought up a few more images. Jinx idly hopped up and sat on a desk while Angel narrowed her eyes on the screen. "Volatile Promethium is known to absorb and generate large amounts of energy," Gizmo began then grimaced, "this makes it useful when making bombs as it basically multiplies the yield," he explained.

"By how much?" Jinx questioned and Gizmo looked at her sheepishly.

"Theoretically… at the very least it would quintuple it if not more," he admitted. He also ignored the incredulous expressions of Angel and Jinx. He cleared his throat and brought up several more images on the screen. "Unfortunately on top of that and being mildly radioactive, the shit is also absurdly mutagenic," he admitted. Angel's wings flared and she narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Mutagenic?" Naruto questioned. Angels sucked in a breath and explained instead.

"Essentially the metal causes normal humans to mutate, potentially giving them powers or damaging them on a cellular level, perhaps even both," she replied and then bit her thumb with a frown. "I can imagine that whoever discovered this property did so either by accident or was just sick and actively experimented with the radioactive properties of it," she murmured while Gizmo nodded his head with a frown.

"Pretty much," the tiny terror explained and then clicked his tongue. "Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, Depleted Promethium is rare because it's only available after Volatile Promethium has been rendered inert after it's radioactive half-life ends," Gizmo explained as he then brought up a new image on the screen of the Dayton Industries building on the outskirts of Jump City.

"Luckily for us some idiot scientists have started experimenting on the sole remaining samples of Volatile Promethium over at Dayton Industries," he explained and then grinned widely. "And with the Titans away and only the new guys to deal with I'd say you have a pretty good shot of getting in and out without any problems," the tiny terror remarked and Naruto idly nodded his head.

He could get in and out easily enough; he'd actually had to let the Titans follow him when they 'first met'. He'd only done so because he thought it would be fun to play with them. He honestly didn't want to hurt any of them too badly, they were just kids after all… barring Starfire, but that was just semantics. Regardless, he was a master of stealth and infiltration, so he could easily break into Dayton Industries.

But that begged the obvious question.

"Is my old suit ready to go?" he questioned curiously. While he could go as is, he kind of liked the whole masked ninja thing. Plus it was fun being able to walk around Jump City without the Titans trying to take him in. The Troika had learned the hard way that their ability to be social was basically non-existent after the Titans saw their faces. In response to Naruto's query Gizmo grimaced while Angel rolled her eyes with a frown.

"We repaired what we could," Angel replied and glanced at Gizmo. The tiny terror started to mutter under his breath as he brought up an image of the current X-suit. The extensive damage caused Naruto to grimace, especially given all the red lines that seemed to crisscross over to the affected systems. "Unfortunately the old suit wasn't designed to sustain this kind of damage," the thanagarian medic remarked pointedly.

"But," Gizmo began with a glare at the girl, "We did manage to get it mostly functional again," he replied with a nod. He then noticed a look from Angel and cleared his throat, "and I cut out the alarm," he finished with a sheepish expression. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that. That stupid klaxon ringing in his ears had been more annoying than actually fighting Sasuke!

"Nice," the blond declared then tipped his hat to Gizmo, "so where'd you put my suit?" he asked. Rather than answer Gizmo used his spider legs to carry him over to a console, which he then started to type on. A few moments later there was a hiss of air before a lid rose up. As it did it revealed the recently patched up X-suit, which Naruto approached. His suit was repaired, but it was clearly just a patch job.

Naruto idly traced his hand across one such patch with a frown. It looked like a matte-grey material with a hexagon pattern had been slapped over the holes and stood out from the rest of the suit rather jarringly. _'Jeez, the teme really did a number on the it,'_ he thought to himself. "Is there anything I should know?" he questioned with a glance at his friend. Gizmo clicked his tongue and then slowly nodded his head.

"A lot of systems are inoperable right now, the optic camo is offline, I had to remove the thermal blasters, and the shruiken don't work," the tiny terror replied. "I got the static-gauntlets to work and your wrist blades, but that was a near miss all things considered," the midget remarked. He then crossed his arms over his chest and then closed his eyes tiredly. Naruto put a hand on his friend's shoulders and smirked.

"Look Giz, I probably don't say this enough, but thanks man," he stated. The tiny terror rolled his eyes and brushed the blond's hand from his shoulder.

"You can thank me by getting that Promethium before some other ass hat does," he replied. Naruto raised a brow and Gizmo grunted. "The idiots over at Dayton actually went and announced that they'll be experimenting on the stuff again. Given how many villains know how to use the internet and I just bet some of 'em are going to be out for this stuff as well," he replied. Naruto hummed in response and cupped his chin.

"Meaning the new set of kids will probably be busy with most of 'em and I can sneak in and take what I want," he remarked and Gizmo nodded his head.

"Exactly, so get going now before someone else slips by 'em!" the tiny terror ordered. Naruto raised his wrists with an amused chuckle and nodded his head. He then pulled the X-Suit from it's casing and slung it over his shoulder as a thought occurred to him.

"I'mma go and grab some things," he stated and hurried off to his room. As he did Jinx looked to Gizmo curiously.

"So why aren't the rest of us going out?" she questioned. Gizmo sighed while Angel decided to answer for him.

"We want to keep the Titans and the rest of the city ignorant to our group for the time being," she responded and then hummed softly. "As it is, we're an unknown and the longer we keep it that way, the longer before the Titans can come up with a potential plan to take us down," the thanagarian medic murmured. Gizmo nodded his head and Jinx frowned deeply.

"But aren't we supposed to watch Tempest back?" she reminded and the tiny terror rolled his eyes.

"Temp 'll be fine bitch, the guy is trickier than Cheshire and more tenacious than Slade," he reminded and then rubbed his chin. "As it is we want to keep this little group a secret from the Titans until we're actually ready to take 'em on," he stated with a nod. Angel hummed her agreement as she made a few modifications to the design Gizmo had set up for the new X-Suit.

"But," Jinx tried to argue, only for Gizmo to grunt.

"Look, we all know you have a crush on Temp, but he's a big boy and he can take care of himself," the tiny terror snarked. Jinx narrowed her eyes in response and then snapped her fingers. A spark of pink energy flew from her hand and Gizmo swore loudly as one of his spider-legs broke and he fell over. Angel smirked slightly at that, and then schooled her features and returned to work…

00

(Elsewhere…)

A familiar blond girl exited from the bathroom of her and her mother's apartment, a towel wrapped around her with another in her hair. She idly rubbed a hand over her head and then glanced to her mother. "Shower's open mom," she called out. Paula nodded in response while Artemis looked at her curiously. "Need some help?" she questioned, however her mother glanced at her with a smile.

"No I'll be fine on my own Artemis," she suggested. The blond girl nodded her head as she walked into their shared room. She briefly tossed her towels to the side and approached her bed as she heard the sound of the shower starting. However as she did she paused when she saw a long box lying on her bed. _'What?'_ she wondered and glanced around worriedly. She then knelt down and pulled the box close with a frown.

She looked over the box curiously, and then pulled a note free to scan it with narrowed eyes. -From a friend- the note stated simply enough. Artemis slowly raised a brow then pulled open the box to find a set of clothes and what looked like archery gear such as a compound bow, arrows, and quiver. She then stood up and pulled the clothes out first and held them to her body.

' _Well it certainly looks like it'll fit me,'_ she noted to herself. She then idly pulled on the material and raised a brow. _'Tear resistant,'_ she mused and hummed quietly as she felt the material and then clicked her tongue. _'Tear resistant and extremely well made,'_ she decided. _'Hmm, did dad send this stuff?'_ she considered for a moment, only to pause as another note fell loose from the clothes.

She idly knelt down and picked up this note then scowled deeply. -The grinning cat and master of games, wait where they've hidden Prometheus flames- the note stated. Artemis didn't need to be a detective to know whom the note was referring too. _'Cheshire and Sports Master,'_ she decided then frowned. _'But what are Prometheus flames supposed to be?'_ she wondered to herself and idly picked up one of the arrows.

She idly twirled the arrow in her hand as she thought over the clue. _'Prometheus' flames,'_ she thought with a hum. She then paused as she recalled a news report she'd seen on TV earlier in the day. _'Something about an alloy they called 'Promethium','_ she recalled as she tapped the arrow against her lower lip. _'Oh right they called it Volatile Promethium,'_ she noted to herself and then walked to her dresser.

She idly pulled her phone out of the dresser and sat on her bed. She connected to the Internet and then started a quick search for Volatile Promethium. Soon she found a page on the stuff and briefly read it over. _'Alright lets see here, highly mutagenic, mildly radioactive, absorbs and generates tremendous amounts of power,'_ she murmured and then paused at the last part.

' _And it can be used to increase the yield of any bomb it's made into,'_ she noted with a twitch of her eye. _'By how much!?'_ she inwardly demanded and paled. She could imagine a few reasons why someone would want the stuff, but she just bet that her father and sister wanted to sell the stuff to the highest bidder. She could also imagine that the highest bidders would be villains with 'world domination' in mind…

' _Yeah, so not happening,'_ she decided as she got up and pulled the rest of the outfit and weapons out of the box. However she paused and looked down at the outfit with a frown on her face. _'So then, do I wear the outfit of dubious origins or wear my street clothes to fight my sister and father?'_ she considered and frowned. She briefly mentally weighed the pros and cons of both, and then sighed tiredly.

' _This is literally the only outfit mom doesn't know about so wouldn't notice if its ruined,'_ she decided and looked down at a sleeveless dark grey top with a stylized green arrow-tip design on the chest; it also had a mask attached to it. She pulled the shirt on, noted it stopped at her ribs and bared her midriff, and then pulled the mask up to her hairline. She paused to move around a bit and then glanced down at her chest with a raised brow.

' _Okay… this thing actually fits better and supports more than any bra I own,'_ the girl noted, and couldn't help but feel more than a little creeped out by that fact. She quickly shook off the feeling and reached into the box to pull out a pair of dark grey pants with green stripes on the sides. She briefly considered a pair of panties, then sighed as she looked down at the pants with a frown.

' _Given the top, these are probably too tight for 'em,'_ she noted as she pulled them on. She wasn't surprised to find that the pants were all but molded to her figure and felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation. _'Okay, whoever sent this stuff had way too much time on their fucking hands!'_ she decided as she turned back to the box. She pulled out a pair of fingerless dark grey gloves, black kneepads, and combat boots.

' _Well at least none of this is all that scarily made,'_ Artemis decided until she pulled the boots on, _'fuck, custom fit, this stuff was literally tailor made for me,'_ she noted with a deep frown as she slipped the boots on. _'Alright fact, someone tailor made me a tear resistant compression outfit and a bunch of weapons, fact, they sent me information that's most likely about Cheshire and dad,'_ she noted and then looked around warily.

' _Fact, this is well and beyond simply creepy at this point and hitting at stalker-ish levels of disturbing,'_ she noted with a shudder. She'd lived in Gotham for most of her life, in that time she'd heard stories of similar things happening. The major difference was that in most of those stories, The Mad Hatter was usually stalking the girl and had left a nasty little surprise in whatever 'gift' was sent her way.

On reflex Artemis pulled the mask down and checked around the temples, only to sigh in relief when she didn't find anything. _'No tech in the mask, so it isn't The Mad hatter, thank god, but it's still creepy as hell,'_ she noted to herself. She sighed as she then pulled a black utility belt, leg pouch, and quiver from the box and slipped them on. She fixed the harness attached to the quiver then pulled the compound bow from it.

' _Hmm, nice,'_ she noted to herself, _'not really my usual speed but I can adapt,'_ she decided as she slung the bow around her torso. She then started to pull arrows out of the box, only to pause at a few of the more esoterically designed ones. "The hell?" she whispered and then shook her head. _'Better stick to what I know, test out the others later,'_ she paused and frowned, _'if I decide this stuff is legit and keep them,'_ she finished.

That decided she fished the 'normal' arrows out of the box and slipped them into her quiver before she closed the box and looked around. Unfortunately the room was small and there were few places she could hide the box of strange arrows. _'Crap,'_ she thought and then walked to the closet. She looked up and then sighed as she put the box out of reach for her mother.

' _Sorry about this mom, but something tells me that you'll like this set up even less than I do,'_ the blond girl thought with a frown. She then marched off, only to pause and glance at herself in a nearby mirror. She then frowned as she touched the mask, which honestly barely covered anything. _'Okay, someone made me a tear resistant outfit that shows off my figure and supports everything… but makes a shit mask?'_ she questioned incredulously.

She shook her head of those thoughts and looked herself over once more. _'List of the top five reasons this stuff was definitely not from dad,'_ she thought and sighed. _'One, the mask is shit,'_ she noted with a frown, _'two, no real armor of any kind,'_ she mused with a glance down at herself. _'Three, he wouldn't send me a bow and a bunch of weird arrows, a riffle or sword, maybe, but not a bow,'_ she continued to mentally list to herself.

' _Four, dad would've called me 'Baby-Girl' somewhere on the card at least one time,'_ she noted with a frown. She wasn't particularly fond of her father's little nickname for her, mostly because of all the times he'd used it mockingly. _'Five, the fact my midriff is bare,'_ she finished with a look at her bared midriff. Her father was many things, but he was in no way a fashion designer, things had to be practical with him.

In his mind her bared midriff was just asking for a knife in her guts, her father would've called it stupid, he would've called the mask pointless, and he would've said the green was too bright even with the dark gray of the 'costume'. The bow and arrows were fine, but again, he wasn't really into them so he likely wouldn't have thought to send them to her. That in mind she knew that someone sent the outfit, it just couldn't be her father…

' _But who did then?'_ she wondered. She then sighed and brushed her hand through her thick blond hair. _'Too loose,'_ she noted and walked over to her dresser. She quickly fished out a green ribbon and then a brush and started to pull her hair back. Once it was all pulled back she swiftly tied the ribbon around the base of her hair. Once she was finished she shook her head as the thick ponytail swept around behind her.

' _Much better,'_ she decided and then made her way out of the room. She briefly glanced around and then exhaled. _'I can't just vanish or mom'll know something is up,'_ she decided. Much as she liked using her stealth training, now was not the time. "Mom I'm heading out!" she called out as she made her way towards the window.

"Is everything alright?" she heard her mom call from the shower. Artemis breathed softly.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna explore a little,' she responded.

"Alright, but be careful and take your phone!" Paula called out from the shower.

"Yeah sure," the blond girl called out as she gabbed her phone. She then walked to the door, opened and closed it as if she had left. Once she had she snuck to the window and slipped out onto the fire escape and up to the roof. _'Alright, now lets see where I'm going,'_ Artemis thought as she used her phone's GPS to locate the 'Dayton Industries' building and smirked.

' _Gotcha,'_ she thought to herself as she ran into the night…

00

(Jump City…)

The night was calm and cool, and it was a perfect night for a heist. At least in Naruto's own personal opinion anyways. Said blond rested on a building across the way from Dayton Industries. He narrowed his eyes from his perch and the HUD in his mask brought up an enlarged image of the courtyard of the building. There he saw a veritable menagerie of villains as well as the 'new teen titans' fighting them.

' _Wow a regular who's who of villains down there,'_ the masked blond noted to himself as he saw several H.I.V.E. agents, including several of his former classmates. _'Wait a sec, is that I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R.?'_ he mentally questioned then snorted and snickered into his closed fist. _'Of all people, they sent him?'_ he had to question with a shake of his head. The oversized head in a robotic suit was… well; he honestly liked making fun of the guy.

' _Him and his robotic speech, and his stupidly big words,'_ the blond thought with a snicker and then looked back down there. He frowned as he took note of the other villains and clicked his tongue. _'Professor Chang, Cinderblock, Plasmus, Overload, Doctor Light, Atlas, Adonis, Johnny Rancid… what the fuck is Control Freak doing here?'_ in internally demanded with a shake of his head.

In his opinion, the overweight couch potato didn't need to be anywhere like this…

He shook his head of such thoughts and frowned deeply at several others he saw fighting with the New Teen Titans. However he then snorted and had to hold his ribs as he started to laugh uproariously. He calmed down after a moment just to make sure he wasn't seeing things and then exhaled several breaths. He then raised a hand to his earpiece and sat back with a wide grin.

"Hey Giz, you guys have got to check this out!" the blond declared and Gizmo grunted.

[What is it Temp, and can it wait?] the tiny terror questioned. [I'm busy making some modifications for your suit,] he remarked pointedly. Instead of answering Naruto sent a live feed to his friend who was silent for a moment. He then started to laugh just as loudly, if not louder, than the blond. [Oh my fucking god! Is that Rock, Paper, Scissors?] he demanded and Naruto exhaled a breath and grinned.

"Looks like it Giz," the blond replied cheerfully.

[Jinx c'mere and take a look at this shit!] Gizmo shouted to their female friend.

[What's so…] the girl began then snorted, [is that fucking Rock, Paper, Scissors?!] she demanded then started to laugh just as hard as Gizmo and Naruto had. [Oh god I knew the H.I.V.E. was running out of talent but that's just sad!] she exclaimed laughingly, Gizmo laughed as well while Naruto rolled his eyes. [Wait… is that I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. too?!] she demanded and the two started to laugh even harder.

[What have you two found so… oh… oh my,] Angel began then snorted and giggled into her hand. [I have to say, if this is the best the H.I.V.E. can muster then they have really fallen on hard times,] she noted and walked away. Naruto could just imagine the winged lass would break down into laughter when she found Kyd Wykkyd, so that she didn't let anyone else see her break down into peels of laughter.

[Oh fucking lord! There's Control Freak and Adonis too!] Gizmo exclaimed laughingly while it sounded like Jinx was running out of breath.

[C-Can't breathe!] Jinx declared through her laughter. Naruto rolled his eyes at that and killed the feed to save Jinx from the hilarity of the situation. The blond then exhaled a sigh as he stood up and checked his gear. He'd left his usual coat behind, but with the lack of weapons in his suit this time he'd decided to go 'back to basics' and collected some of his Shinobi gear. That in mind he'd also done a little… modifying.

He'd found a simple belt and then put several equipment pouches onto it, which he now wore over his suit. Each was filled with Kunai, shuriken, razor wire, lock picks, or any number of other things he might need. He'd also put seals on the Kunai and shuriken, so that with a bit of chakra he could recall them to the seals he'd put on the pouches. It was a close second to the infinite number of shurikens his X-Suit usually made.

He'd also grabbed his old Wakizashi and sheathed it at the back of his waist, on the off chance that someone of any real skill managed to corner him into a fight he was going to be ready. If that someone was Sasuke, well, the blond had decided he might have to bust out a few new tricks to get the ass hat off of his tail. He paused those thoughts when he saw someone scaling the building and narrowed his eyes.

' _Well well, what have we here?'_ he wondered to himself. Most of the villains were running head long at the building without trying the stealth approach. Then again it was a sad fact that very few Jump City villains could be construed as 'stealthy'. It seemed as if Gotham had broken the bank on Stealthy villains, but then again with some of the weird powers available that wasn't too surprising.

Still, it begged the question of who his guests were tonight.

' _So then, lets get a good long look at you,'_ the blond thought as he zoomed in with his optic lenses. There he saw a familiar babe, using hand claws and foot spikes to scale the building, as well as a large green / grey robotic man using the tentacles that extended out of his wrists to do the same… _'Fuck, its Cheshire and Cypher… somehow I should've expected that to come back and bite me in the ass,'_ he thought with a frown.

He glanced down at the spectacle that was the fighting villains and new teen titans, then shrugged and leaped off of his perch and into the night. He briefly fell then seemed to vanish in a plume of smoke. _'Shunshin for the fucking win!'_ Naruto declared as he reappeared on top of the Dayton Industries building. He then swiftly headed to the vents and pried the cover loose. Just as he was about to slip inside he turned at a sound.

There he saw Cheshire with Cypher coming up behind her. The masked thief idly raised two fingers in a mock salute and grinned beneath his mask. "Catch me if you can," he quipped playfully. With that he lunged into the vent and all but slid through them. He heard Cheshire and Cypher follow him but kept ahead of them all the same. The blond briefly glanced at his H.U.D. as a map came up and followed it.

He occasionally glanced back towards where Cheshire and Cypher were then grinned sneakily. _'Lets have a little fun with the kitty,'_ he decided as he quickly formed a couple of clones to briefly hang back at an intersection. He and the clones then split up in order to confuse Cheshire and her cybernetic helper. With an amused snicker the real blond continued on course to his target…

00

(Elsewhere…)

Artemis made her way up the side of the Dayton Industries Building. She idly glanced down at 'Titans' as they dealt with the numerous 'villains' who were also attempting to enter the building. Though to be honest she used the term 'villain' very loosely with what she saw down below. They were blunt and attempted to storm the building instead of trying to sneak in.

' _I'll say a lot about my dad, but at least he taught me the value of subtlety,'_ the blond girl thought as she climbed the side of the building. She then climbed onto the roof and took a quick look around. She spotted the open vent and frowned deeply. _'Well I know where they went,'_ she noted to herself and hurried into the vent. She slid inside and sighed as she tried to navigate her way through the vents.

' _Ugh, really wish I'd been able to scope out this place,'_ she thought as she quickly became almost hopelessly lost. However she paused when she noticed what looked vaguely like claw marks in the vents. _'So someone did manage to get in,'_ she realized and then quickly followed the marks. She soon came to a stop as she heard a ruckus and looked out of the vent to see her sister, Jade, AKA Cheshire.

' _Well well, looks like I found you Jade,'_ the blond thought with narrowed eyes. She paused those thoughts at the sight of Jade's companion, a tall robotic figure in shades of green and grey. _'What the… is that Cypher!?'_ the blond demanded with wide eyes. Having lived in gotham for many years, she'd heard of the cybernetic mind controlling cyber criminal on more than a few occasions.

' _Okay, Cypher, that's really bad,'_ the blond thought to herself. Jade on her own was a force to be reckoned with, but add Cypher and you had a big problem. _'Well that's just great,'_ Artemis thought with a frown. She also had to wonder if her sister had actually joined the League of Shadows. If she had then she had to give her sister at least some props, that was an exceedingly difficult thing to do after all.

Artemis shook her head of those thoughts and slowly followed Jade and Cypher as they made their way through the facility and listened in on the two. "You took care of all the guards right?" the emerald assassin questioned the cybernetic cyber-terrorist. Cypher silently nodded his head in reply. _'Well that answers that question,'_ Artemis mused to herself with a frown. Jade mutely nodded in ascent and then narrowed her eyes.

"Good, now find X before he gets to the Promethium," the girl ordered and Cypher nodded once more. The machine man then turned and pointed a hand towards a camera. Instantly a wire shot from it's wrist and plugged itself into the camera. The machine man was silent as its eyes began to glow, and then nodded down a nearby corridor. "He's that way?" Cheshire questioned and Cypher nodded. "Then lets go!" she declared and ran off.

Cypher tilted its head briefly then followed, although it glanced back as if it knew it was being watched. It took a moment to stare behind it, and then slowly turned back around to follow after Cheshire. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief, more than a little worried that the machine man had noticed her. Instead she took a moment to calm herself down, and then frowned as a question popped into her mind.

' _Who the hell is X?'_ Artemis wondered to herself. She shook the question off for a later date and continued to follow the two as they made their way through the halls. The two came to an open door that looked as if someone had somehow cut it out of the wall, rather than trying to cut the door… _'Okay someone really wanted in there,'_ Artemis thought as she also tried to figure out how someone cut the door out…

It was a wall that was also a few feet thick; the questioned needed to be asked…

"Wonderful, he's here," Cheshire grumbled. Cypher looked at her and tilted its head, causing the emerald assassin to turn to him with a scowl. "Just c'mon!" she ordered and ran into the room. Cypher nodded its head and followed after the emerald assassin while Artemis followed the vent into the room. There she found a vent cover and placed her foot against it before bracing herself on the sides of the vent.

She inhaled a quick breath and then kicked the cover loose and slipped out into the room. It was a large room, she idly noticed it was an extremely open, not to mention empty, with several safes at one end of the room. _'Okay… but which is the right one?'_ Artemis wondered to herself then ducked to the side as a shuriken nearly impaled her head. She quickly calmed her nerves and looked to the shuriken, only to pause.

' _What the hell…'_ she murmured and reached out for one of the weapons. She grasped it and inspected it intently, noticed the weight, the metal, and most importantly all the scratches and dings on the thing. Of those things the weight struck her instantly, the shuriken was abnormally heavy for a throwing weapon. Someone would need above average strength to hurl the thing with any skill or accuracy.

Artemis was pulled from her thoughts as the weapon vanished in a plume of smoke and quickly looked around for it. Instead she saw Cheshire and Cypher across from a man in a nearly all black suit with grey padding. It also had an old grey utility belt with a chain hanging from it, and a death's-head mask and bold red-x's all over it, which clearly told her who it was. _'Oh, so that's X,'_ Artemis guessed.

Meanwhile, Cheshire lunged at the masked thief and leaped into a flying kick. However Naruto chuckled as he grabbed her leg out of midair and tossed her to the side. As he did he felt something try to attach to the back of his neck and grinned nastily. The blond grabbed the wire and tugged on it, yanking Cypher forward and allowing the blond to leap into a flying roundhouse kick that sent the machine man flying.

"Fucking love body armor!" Naruto declared with a laugh. Cheshire looked to Cypher then turned to the blond with a roll of her eyes. _'Of course he wouldn't be that easy to deal with,'_ the emerald assassin thought to herself. "Cypher," she began as she pulled her sai from her kimono. The cyber assassin looked up to her as she narrowed her eyes on X with a deep scowl, "get the Promethium," she ordered.

Cypher gave a silent nod and she lunged at the thief. The cat masked assassin lashed out at the thief who dodged and weaved around her attacks with practiced ease. He hummed as he ducked under a swipe from the sai and then leaned back and kicked Cheshire away with a double kick. The blond then rolled back into a crouch while Cheshire was sent sprawling and growled in frustration.

"Aw watsamatter Cheshire," Naruto teased, "you getting frustrated?" he questioned. He then sidestepped as the girl hurled one of her sai at his head. "Now you know you shouldn't throw those," he teased with a shake of his head, "you might put some ones eye out," he noted with a nod of his head. Cheshire felt her brow twitch and narrowed her eyes on the masked thief.

"Yeah, yours!" the girl declared and lunged at the thief. He mentally rolled his eyes as she twisted into a kick which he caught with one hand.

"Aw, not in a playful mood today?" he mocked. Cheshire twitched and then twisted into a kick at his head, which he blocked with one hand. She then placed her hands on the ground and used her leverage to toss the blond away. She landed in a crouch and watched him vanish in a plume of smoke and appear on the ground with his arms crossed and a smirk clearly beneath his mask.

' _You're the one who isn't playing,'_ Cheshire noted warily. While she'd always despised how he seemed to treat her with kid gloves, she could admit that when he wasn't playing with her it was just infuriating how far beyond her he was. With a shake of her head Cheshire twirled her sai in hand and lunged at the blond once more. She stabbed at him with the sai, but he effortlessly sidestepped each stab, the grabbed her arm and forced her to the ground in a single move.

"I didn't think you liked to play rough X," she grit out as he twisted her arm back.

"Not usually, but I'm flexible," he quipped in response. Cheshire rolled her eyes at that and struggled against his grip. As she did, Cypher hurried to the back of the room and started to open the lock boxes in order to find the Promethium. Upon seeing this, Artemis narrowed her eyes and notched an arrow in her bow. _'Well since that 'X' guy clearly has Cheshire in hand,'_ Artemis noted and narrowed her eyes, _'I'll take Cypher,'_ she decided.

With that the blond girl let an arrow fly towards the cyber criminal. However Cypher turned and caught the arrow in mid-flight, then snapped it in one hand. _'Crap,'_ Artemis thought as she quickly notched another arrow and fired it at the cybernetic criminal. Cypher silently rose to his feet and avoided the arrow and then crouched down and hurried towards the blond girl. _'Double crap!'_ Artemis thought with wide eyes.

She ducked out of the way as Cypher came lunging at her and then rolled into a crouch with her bow drawn and an arrow notched. She let the arrow fly at Cypher and was briefly surprised to see it pierce his armor and cause him to stumble back a ways. _'Oh wow, I really need to find out what those are made of,'_ the blond girl decided. She then swore aloud as Cypher came at her with a swipe of his claws.

As she did both Naruto and Cheshire looked up and were surprised to see the girl.

"Wait a second," Naruto murmured to himself. The low voice was very familiar, as was the girl's physique. There was also the fact her mask didn't really cover much of anything as well. Literally, it left her chin, lips, nose, ears, and eyes all exposed, not to mention her long golden blond hair… _'Okay whose idea was that mask? Also, I know I've seen her before,'_ he decided and then snapped his fingers. "Right, that's," he began quietly.

"Artemis?" the blond heard Cheshire questioned incredulously and glanced down at her.

"Wait, how do you know Artemis?" he questioned. Cheshire turned and looked up at him with suspicious eyes.

"I could ask the same," she stated accusingly. Naruto tilted his head in response.

"I helped her and her mom move into their new apartment this morning," he admitted with a shrug. Cheshire looked at the blond dubiously for a moment then rolled her eyes. _'Somehow I'm not even surprised by that,'_ she thought to herself. It wasn't even a surprise if she were honest with herself. It was almost painfully obvious the blond had, at some point, been a hero.

"She's my little sister," she then deadpanned in answer. Naruto blinked at the admission and snapped his fingers.

"Oh, so that's why they looked so familiar," he murmured with a nod. The family resemblance between the three women was pretty strong after all. He then paused and noticed that Cypher was trying to grab Artemis with its wrist cords. Naruto frowned at that; he could clearly recall what'd happened to Starfire when the future Cypher managed to grab her with its 'tentacles'.

' _Mind control, and I'm so not letting that happen,'_ he decided firmly. With that he placed a knee on Cheshire's arm and back to hold her down and quickly formed a familiar T shaped hand seal. A shadow clone instantly popped into existence at his side. Naruto then turned to the clone with a serious expression.

"Go get 'em," he ordered and the clone vanished in a plume of smoke. However the blond himself grunted as Cheshire used his distraction to kick him off of her and then rolled to the side and tried to stab him with a sai. The blond quickly grabbed the sai and the girl's arm and narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Is this any way to treat someone who's trying to help your sister?" he questioned darkly. Cheshire scoffed.

"She can take care of herself," the black haired girl remarked, "Trust me, Sportsmaster made sure of that," she stated with a frown in her voice. _'Who?'_ Naruto wondered as he then head butted Cheshire, cracking her mask and dazing the girl at the same time. _'She really needs to think about getting a better mask,'_ he decided as he tossed the girl off of himself and rolled into a crouch. As he did Cheshire got up and glared at him…

Meanwhile, Naruto's clone lunged at and grabbed Cypher from behind as it tried to grab hold of Artemis. The clone then grabbed the back of Cypher's head and started to pull on it with gritted teeth. Sparks started to shoot off from Cypher's neck and the man machine instantly ceased its attack on Artemis to bat the clone off of itself and focus on him instead.

The clone landed on the ground in a crouch and noticed Artemis notch another arrow at Cypher's back. _'That's clearly not working,'_ the clone thought to itself. Her arrows could pierce Cypher's armor, but that was useless if she didn't know where to hit the machine man. _'We need to find a weak spot,'_ the clone decided as he looked over the machine man's body with a frown.

It was, unfortunately, extremely plain and any vulnerable systems were likely double plated to keep Cypher from being easily defeated. 'But, maybe if Artemis can get her arrow stuck in him,' the blond considered as he looked to his hand. 'Yeah, Static Gauntlets!' he decided and then lunged at Cypher. He then dodged around a quick strike from the man machine and leaped behind him to land next to Artemis.

"Get an arrow in 'em, I'll do the rest," he stated quickly, and before she could tell him not to order her around he had already lunged at the cyber criminal once more to build up a charge in his gauntlets. Artemis felt her eye twitch and then narrowed her eyes on the fighting criminals. _'Can't believe I'm following his stupid plan,'_ she thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes. _'There!'_ she thought and let her arrow fly.

The arrow soared quick and true and then plunged deep into the armor on Cypher's back. The man machine lurched forward on impact and Naruto's clone ducked into a roll and grabbed the arrow. _'Here goes everything,'_ the clone thought as his hands and forearms began to spark with electricity. The man machine stood stock still as electricity arched along his body and he shuddered in a silent scream before falling over.

Naruto's clone stood up and then brushed himself off. _'Huh… so is he down for the count?'_ the clone wondered to itself as it idly tapped Cypher with his foot while Artemis walked to his side. The machine man didn't move and the clone grinned widely and turned to Artemis with a raised hand. "High five?" he suggested. Artemis gave the clone a dubious look and then sighed as she placed her palm against his.

"Yes!" he declared with a pump of his fist. _'This guy is so weird,'_ Artemis decided then looked to the Red-X fighting Cheshire. She then turned back to the clone with wide eyes.

"There're two of you?!" she demanded. The clone looked at her strangely then glanced at the original and grinned.

"Nah, I'm just a clone," he stated and vanished in a plume of smoke. Artemis felt her eye twitch as she turned back to where Cheshire was and looked at 'X' warily. _'Okay so not only is the guy really weird, but he can apparently multiply on the drop of a dime,'_ she thought with a shudder. She then pulled an arrow from her quiver and ran to attack Cheshire, and probably the thief as well.

She first fired an arrow at the two, Naruto leaped back out of the way while Cheshire ducked beneath the arrow. As they did Artemis pulled another pair of arrows and fired them off in rapid succession. Cheshire rolled out of the way of her's and then lunged at Artemis. As she did Naruto pulled his wakizashi from the back of his waist and batted it into the air silently.

Artemis dodged around Cheshire and batted her to the side with her bow, then fired another arrow at the skull-masked thief. Naruto crouched as the arrow came at him and then swung his wakizashi. The sword sliced through the arrow, cutting it in half lengthwise and causing it to land in two spots behind him. Artemis paused and looked at the masked blond incredulously.

"The fuck?" she demanded, "no I'm so calling bullshit!" she snarled and pointed at the now very amused blond thief, "No one can cut an arrow in half in mid flight like some kind of anime ninja reject!" she declared with a twitch of her eye. Cheshire rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Yeah, he has a bad habit of doing the impossible," the emerald assassin remarked. She then kicked her sister to the side and lunged at Naruto. The masked blond smirked as he used his wakizashi to block her sai and she hummed. "Ooh, that's a really nice sword," she remarked, "kind of small though," she noted teasingly. Naruto rolled his eyes in response and then pulled back to get Cheshire in arm's reach.

"True 'nough, but size isn't everything," he stated as he knocked Cheshire on her back. The girl grunted and flipped back to her feet, then ducked to the side as Artemis came swinging with her bow. "You do realize that isn't a club, right?" Naruto questioned as Artemis looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, but it's not like I have a weapon to," she began only for the blond to toss her a pair of Kunai from his belt. She caught one with wide eyes and stared at him incredulously. "Why the hell are you giving me weapons?!" she demanded. Naruto hummed and slunk around a stab from Cheshire, then grabbed her arm and pulled it into a painful hold.

"Mostly I'm just bored and hoping for a little more fun between the two of you," he admitted with a sigh. Cheshire growled at that and glared at him from over her shoulder.

"I don't do threesomes," she growled at the blond. Naruto grinned in response.

"Good, cause I still don't know where you've been," he stated cheekily. Artemis snorted and had to hold back laughter as Jade snarled and tried to elbow the blond. However he vanished in a plume of smoke and landed next to her, arms crossed and a clear smirk in his voice. "Do you even know how to use those?" he asked with a nudge to the kunai. In response Artemis started to twirl the kunai, tossed them into the air, then caught them.

She then looked at the masked blond with a smirk.

"I think I can manage," she remarked. Naruto whistled in response then looked back to Cheshire, who had recovered her second sai.

"So," the masked thief began, "has she always been this easy to rile up?" he questioned surreptitiously. The blond girl grinned in response.

"No, I think you just got under her skin," she remarked. Naruto hummed in response.

"Must be thin skinned then," he noted with a nod, then sidestepped a throwing knife from the now clearly livid cat-masked girl. She then lunged at the blonds; Artemis ducked to the side while Naruto caught her sai with his wakizashi. "Oooh, testy," he noted as he kicked her back. She grunted and flipped to her feet, eyes narrowed on the masked thief. "What? Don't like me talking to other girls?" he questioned with a teasing tone.

"No, just not when it's my little sister!" she snapped. Artemis rolled her eyes in response and came at the older girl from behind. Naruto saw this and vanished in a plume of smoke while the blond landed a roundhouse on Cheshire from behind. Cheshire fell to the side and then flipped into a crouch and narrowed her eyes. Artemis looked at her with a smirk, and idly twirled the Kunai in her hands.

"Thanks for that Jade, but you know I can take care of myself," she quipped dryly. As she did Naruto focused on the name 'Jade' and looked to Cheshire with an amused grin.

"So your real name is actually, Jade," the blond thief noted with a tap of his chin. He then clapped his hands together and tilted his head to the side, "Aw, that's such a nice name," he remarked. Cheshire felt her brow twitch and glared at the both of them.

"Oh I hate you both so much," she grumbled softly. She then lunged forward and leaped at Naruto, only for the blond to grab her from midair. She tried to stab him but he vanished in a plume of smoke then appeared behind her and kicked her to the side. She was given nearly no time to react as Artemis lunged at her and caught her sai with the two Kunai the masked thief had given to her.

Cheshire grunted as she held the blond girl back and warily noted she was being double teamed by the duo of blonds. She looked between the two of them and briefly glanced at the downed Cypher. _'Shit,'_ she thought to herself, _'I can't retreat, not from these two,'_ she decided as she crouched low and twirled her sai in her hand. However she paused at the sound of someone clapping.

As one, Naruto, Cheshire, and Artemis all turned to see a man approaching them. _'Oh great_ _ **him**_ _,'_ Cheshire thought with a scowl. The man was a tall burly fellow with blond hair; he wore a steel hockey mask, a black short sleeves compression shirt, black pants, black combat boots, a dark blue flak jacket with a steel shoulder pad, black knee / elbow pads, a black utility belt, a steel plate on his left forearm, and fingerless black gloves.

"Well well," the man intoned. Instantly Cheshire and Artemis pulled away from one another and glared at him, "Doesn't this seem like a lovely family reunion," the man remarked with his arms spread wide. "Both my little girls are here," after all. Naruto looked at the two and then to the man and hummed.

"So this is the father," he murmured, "well at least that explains Artemis' blond hair anyways," he murmured to himself. Cheshire then kicked Artemis to the side and flipped back a ways. She came out in a crouch, eyes narrowed on the man and hands clenched tightly on her sai.

"This is just great," she remarked with a glance from Naruto, to Artemis, and finally on Sportsmaster, "all of my least favorite blond people in one room," the girl grumbled. This caused Artemis to look at Naruto curiously as she got back on her feet. _'So he's blond then,'_ she noted and stowed that information away for later. As she did their Sportsmaster turned to regard the skull-masked thief with a curious expression.

"So who're you supposed to be?" Sportsmaster questioned with a look at Naruto.

"X," Naruto began, "Red-X," he stated with a mock bow. He then straightened up and tapped on his chin with a hum "So," he began as he idly twirled his wakizashi in his free hand, "given the mask and other gear I'mma take a wild guess that you're some kind of a 'hockey enthusiast'," the blond quipped playfully. The blond man looked at the thief and idly chuckled.

"Cute," he stated as he pulled something from his belt, "I'm actually into a lot of things, though mostly I'm just a humble mercenary," he admitted. "Most know me as simply _**Sportsmaster**_ ," he declared as a heavy weight fell from his hand and impacted with the ground. It was attached to what looked like a thin metal cord and caused Naruto to raise a brow. Without warning Sportsmaster lunged at the blond with a swing of his weapon…

00

A familiar purple eyed girl whistled the tune of 'if I only had a brain' to herself as she climbed through the vents of Dayton Industries. She paused at an intersection and reached into her black white-furred cat-suit to pull out a set of blueprints. Strangely they were the plans for the Dayton Industries building with a small note - _ **To Duela courtesy of 'mister author dude'**_ \- printed near the bottom of it in black sharpie.

Aside from that were many other doodles and drawings of random things in black sharpie, which the girl had clearly done while she was bored. At the moment however she hummed softly and lifted her cats-eye goggles to her forehead to get a better look at the plans. She raised a finger and idly traced the path she needed to take before she heard the sounds of fighting from somewhere in the building.

"Oh, I guess I'm close," the redhead mused as she folded the blueprints up and slipped them into her cleavage. With that stowed away she continued to whistle to herself and crawled to the sounds of fighting. She briefly pulled her goggles back down over her eyes and pressed a small button on the frames. It caused the world around her to turn an odd yellow color and let her look through the walls.

"Heh, Thief Vision for the win!" the girl declared with a grin. She then raised the goggles back to her forehead and crawled her way to where she'd seen four people fighting one another. She then clambered out of the vents in a familiar room where Cheshire, Artemis, Naruto, and Sportsmaster were fighting one another. The thief giggled to herself as she stood up and brushed herself off.

She glanced around for a moment and then slunk to the side, keeping close to the walls and stealthily made her way to the rear of the room. As she did the three combatants continued to fight one another fiercely. Duela paused, only once, in order to take a picture of them fighting, and then continued on her way. She idly bobbed her head as she palmed her way to the wall of safe-boxes with a frown.

She reached back into the open front of her cat-suit to pull out the blueprints again and looked at a doodle of the wall that had one safe in particular blacked out. "Gotcha," she stated as she looked for the box in particular. She noticed that it had a num-pad and an electronic lock and frowned deeply. "This could take some work," she admitted to herself and then snapped her fingers as an idea came to her.

"Or I could completely bypass all that since Cypher already killed the alarms," she stated with a nod. She then reached into her backpack and pulled out a fake flower with a long tube, which led into a squeezable pouch. She idly aimed the flower at the safe, stuck her tongue out to one side with one eye closed, and then squeezed the pouch tightly. A green stream of acid shot from the flower and quickly began to eat away at the safe.

The crazy crimson haired dame idly whistled to herself and pulled a file from her backpack. She then used the file to slowly file the claws on her gloves while the acid continued to eat at the metal door to the safe. She glanced at it a moment, then sighed as it continued on slowly. "Now I remember why I don't use that stuff," she mumbled to herself and started to tap her foot impatiently.

She paused that and glanced over at the still fighting people and couldn't help an amused smirk as she ducked under a stray shuriken from a certain blond. "Man, none of them are very observant when they're fighting each other," she noted and glanced to the side, "Are they?" she asked seemingly no one with a wink. She then sighed and looked to the claws on her gloves with a frown before she blew a breath into her messy bangs.

After a while, in which she busied herself watching X and the others fight and silently cheered for the skull masked thief, the lock on the safe was finally eaten away by the acid and the girl grinned widely and reached inside to pluck out a locked briefcase. The crazy redhead grinned as she put the briefcase to the side and pulled another out from behind her back from… somewhere… and held it over her head.

The new briefcase was jet-black in color with a number of bright neon-green exclamation and question marks dotted across its surface. Duela looked to the briefcase with a smile as she put it down on the floor and set a timer on it. She briefly glanced at the still fighting thieves / mercenaries / heroes in the room and tapped her chin in thought then snapped her fingers and set the time for a minute or two.

"That should be more than enough time for the Titans to notice that someone is robbing the place and for me to get away," she decided with a nod of her head. That done she picked up the briefcase of Volatile Promethium, only to pause and frown in thought. "Maybe I should check just to be sure," she considered and then opened the briefcase. Inside she saw several bars of white metal and quickly closed the lead-lined case.

"Yeah, that's the stuff alright," she stated and quickly locked the briefcase to prevent any radiation from getting out of it. With that done she then put the briefcase behind her back, where it vanished and she stood up and brushed her hands off. "Time for me to go," the crazy redhead stated and then slunk back to the vent where she'd entered from. She then looked up to it and leaped up onto the wall, using her claws to climb over to the vent.

She then opened then grate and slipped inside, feet first, before pausing to wave to seemingly no one. She stopped when she heard a crash and looked to the side to see a large man in red armor laid out. Atop the man was a clearly annoyed Wonder-Girl, who saw the four fighting 'villains' and lunged to attack. "And that's my cue to beat it!" Duela commented before she slipped into the duct and vanished into the vents…

00

(Naruto Vs Sportsmaster…)

Naruto ducked and rolled out of the way as Sportsmaster came at him with a swing of his weighted weapon. _'What is that thing, some kind of bola or something?'_ the blond once Shinobi idly wondered to himself. He then ducked beneath another swing of the weapon and lashed out with a low roundhouse kick. Sportsmaster leaped up over the kick and swung his weighted weapon down at the blond.

Naruto vanished in a plume of smoke only to reappear behind the blond man.

"Fun fact," the blond began as he palmed several shuriken in his off hand, "never let me out of your sight," he quipped and hurled the shuriken at the older man. Sportsmaster quickly rolled out of the way and narrowed his eyes on the blond haired thief. He idly twirled his weighted weapon at his side and slowly circled around Naruto. The blond did the same, eyes narrowed as he kept the elder blond in his sights.

Naruto idly twirled his wakizashi in his hand then slowly sheathed it behind his waist and dropped into a stance. Sportsmaster saw this and lunged at the blond with a swing of the weighted cord. Naruto ducked under the attack and lashed out with a quick hook. Sportsmaster sidestepped it and lashed at the blond with an overhead swing of his weighted weapon.

Naruto ducked to the side and tossed several Shuriken at Sportsmaster in retaliation. However the hockey-masked man used his weighted cord to block several of the shuriken, only to grunt as a few managed to find purchase and dig into his flesh. The blond man yanked one of them out and flung it back at the blond thief, only for Naruto to snap his finger. Then shuriken vanished in a plume of smoke and reappeared in his hand.

"Nice huh?" Naruto quipped as he tossed the shuriken into the air and caught it in his hand. "Sorry chuckles, but none of my personal weapon's can be used against me," he remarked as he flung the shuriken at Sportsmaster once more. The blond man grunted and batted the shuriken to the side with the steel bracer on his left forearm. He then took several panting breaths and chuckled to himself.

"Alright kid, I'll admit you have some neat tricks," he admitted and twirled his weighted cord at his side. "But without those your just a punk kid in a fancy suit," the man accused, however Naruto snickered to himself. He then grinned widely as he pulled a kunai from his belt in one hand and a chain in the other. He then attached the chain to the kunai and twirled the kn\ife in his grip.

"Ya know chuckles, that trick might've worked on me in my younger days," he admitted as he let go of the kunai. However it held aloft, leaving Sportsmaster to raise a brow as the kunai and chain started to rise into the air seemingly of their own accord. "But here's the thing," he began in a deadly serious tone, eyes narrowed and nary a trace of mirth in his voice.

Sportsmaster stepped back and he watched the floating kunai with chain circle around the blond. _'The hell is this?'_ Sportsmaster wondered with wide eyes. Naruto himself simply focused all of his concentration on the chakra string connected to kunai and chain. It was the closest approximation he could make to his mother's chakra chains at present. He was working on a pure chakra variant, but for now this would have to do.

"I'm not a kid, no matter my age," he asserted firmly. Sportsmaster lunged forward and twirled his weighted cord at the blond. However the floating chain lashed out, wrapped around the cord and pulled it down. Sportsmaster was given a moment to widen his eyes before Naruto landed an uppercut that sent the blond man flying back. Sportsmaster maneuvered himself into a backwards roll and came out in a low crouch.

"I've nearly died more times than I can count," Naruto stated as his chain started to circle around him like a coiled snake. "I've been betrayed and very nearly killed by the man I considered my best friend several times," he continued as the chain started to slam into the ground. "I've fought in a fucking war, seen friends die, and killed more people than I honestly care to admit," the blond continued in a low angry voice.

Sportsmaster narrowed his eyes warily, and then quickly dodged to the side with a curse as the chain suddenly lashed out at him. It shot forward and tore through the ground where he had been while Naruto turned to him with narrowed eyes. His chain seemed to return to him and coiled around him once more. The blond idly raised his hand and the chain coiled around the outside of his arm.

"So don't call me kid, and I couldn't give one fuck what you or anyone else thinks of how I do business," the blond intoned as the chain shot out towards Sportsmaster. The blond man rolled out of the way and then flipped onto his feet. "Sure I use a lot of tricks and I like to play and mock you people when I fight you, but I'm still holding back every time," he remarked and then flipped the kunai in his hand into a reverse grip.

"This chain trick for instance, it's literally the bare bones of what I can really do when I put my mind to it, one one-hundredth of the scope of my full abilities," he remarked and narrowed his eyes. "But that's just 'cause I'm being nice and giving you idiots as fair a fight as I possibly can, instead of mowing you down and attracting the big guns," he continued with a shrug while Sportsmaster slowly stood up and faced the younger blond.

"That said old man, you really want to see me off the chain, then by all means I'll be happy to oblige," he remarked with his arms outstretched and then fixed a look on the other man. Sportsmaster was silent for a moment and then let out a low chuckle and grinned towards the blond haired thief.

"Fine then, X," he began then cracked his neck. "I can respect being discreet," he stated and pulled a stick from his belt. He flicked it to the side and the stick lengthened into a baton, which he then flipped in the air and caught in his hand. "I honestly hate all the punks running around blowing up buildings for shits and giggles nowadays, it's refreshing to see a man with a good head on his shoulders again," he admitted.

"So lets have some fun with this, shall we?" he suggested. Naruto smirked in response but before they could do anything the far wall exploded inwards. Both blond men turned to see Adonis stumble forward for a moment then fall face forward. Behind the armored man was the form of Donna Troy, AKA Wonder-Girl, who had a sword and shield in hand, only she then leaped at the two men when she saw them…

00

(Artemis Vs Cheshire…)

The blond haired girl blocked Cheshire's sai with the Kunai Naruto gave her and grit her teeth as the older girl tried to physically overpower her. Which was unfortunately not too difficult for her as she was clearly much stronger than when they last met. _'Christ, what the hell has Jade been eating to get this strong?'_ the blond wondered. She then pulled Cheshire's sai to the side and head butted the older girl.

Unfortunately for the girl, unlike X she didn't have a helmet and so hurt her face as well.

"Son of a bitch!" she swore as she grabbed her face while Cheshire shook off her daze and lunged at the blond. Artemis grunted as Cheshire rammed into her, and carried her to the far wall. Artemis impacted with the wall with a grunt then kicked Cheshire off of herself and narrowed her eyes on the older girl. Cheshire meanwhile landed in a crouch and looked at the younger girl with a smirk.

"You getting angry, hun?" she asked playfully. Artemis felt her eye twitch then dropped into a low stance and leaped at her sister with a roundhouse kick. Cheshire ducked under the kick and then lashed out with one of her own, knocking Artemis to the side. "Oh wow, you know what you're really out of practice sweetie," the elder girl noted with a bit of a teasing tone. Artemis blinked and shook her head.

Though oddly enough she could almost swear she saw someone moving in the shadows. She shook off the errant thought and rolled onto her hands and feet and flipped back up and lunged at Cheshire once more. The elder girl dodged a few swings from her kunai and then grabbed her arm and twisted it back painfully. Artemis hissed in pain for a moment then threw a punch at Cheshire's head, knocking her to the side.

As Cheshire stumbled to the side Artemis lunged at her and lashed out with the kunai, only for Cheshire to duck under the swipes and then sweep Artemis legs out from under her. "You seriously need to get back in shape," Cheshire mocked as she turned and brought her heel down, only for Artemis to roll out of the way and fling one of the kunai at the older girl.

Cheshire moved out of the way only to grunt as Artemis rammed into her from the side and pressed her head against the wall. The blond girl held onto her elder sibling tightly and narrowed her eyes. "Not bad for someone who's out of shape, huh?" she grit out with a nasty smirk, "more than enough to take you down," she accused; however Cheshire merely chuckled in response.

"Aww, you're so cute Artemis," the girl teased, she then lifted her feet and then pushed off of the wall. Artemis gave a cry as the both fell over. Cheshire rolled off of Artemis only to quickly stab her sai down into the ground next to the blond girl's head. The blond girl looked up with wide eyes while Cheshire grinned. "But face facts, your out of your depth," she declared firmly.

However Artemis instead focused on the person in the vents above them.

It was a redheaded girl in a black cat suit with white fur, the girl also had a pair of cats eye goggles and seemed to give her a friendly wave. "The hell?" Artemis questioned. Cheshire raised a brow, and then looked up to see the redheaded girl, then turned as the wall to the side suddenly exploded. From it they saw Adonis fall forward and Wonder-Girl leap at Red-X and Sportsmaster with a roar.

"Shit," Cheshire muttered then grimaced as she saw a yellow / red blur run in. The blur then slowed down to reveal Kid Flash. "Oh of course," she muttered and pulled her Sai up and looked at the redheaded boy. "Why can't anything be simple?" she wondered to herself, only to pause when she saw Cypher finally getting back up. "What took you so long to get back up tin soldier?" she demanded of the silent cyber criminal.

Cypher didn't answer, instead he focused on Kid Flash who looked around in surprise and then sighed tiredly. "Of course not all of them were outside," he muttered and then blurred out of the way as Cypher tried to grab him with his cords. Cypher was briefly surprised, then was knocked to the ground by Kid Flash, who looked at him with a clearly amused smirk.

"You know big guy," Kid Flash began and then zipped out of the way as Cypher lashed out at him, "I've heard girls like the strong silent type," he continued as he knocked on the cyber criminal's head. Cypher seemed to twitch as he lashed out with a fist only for the speedster to blur out of the way. "But I really think you're taking it a bit too far," the redhead remarked conspiratorially.

Cypher lashed out with his cords again, yet the speedster had already blurred out of the way. The young speedster looked to Cypher with a smirk while Cheshire palmed her face and grunted as Artemis kicked her legs out from under her. "Don't forget about me!" the blond declared as she kicked the older girl to the side. Cheshire rolled for a few moments and then flipped onto her feet and twirled her sai in hand.

"Ooh I'm so scared," she mocked then leaped back as a stream of water separated the two of them. Both girls looked to the side to see Kaldur, the marks on his arms glowing blue and the water literally bending and moving around him. "Well that's a new one on me," Cheshire murmured softly. Kaldur gave a bemused expression as he raised his arms and then sent a stream of water surging towards the girls.

Artemis swore as she rolled out of the way while Cheshire flipped back and pulled several throwing darts from her belt. _'Wait, he's an atlantean, meaning his skin hardens while it's wet,'_ the dark haired girl realized with a frown. She then stowed her darts back in her belt and narrowed her eyes on the blond teen. _'Right, so I'll just get to play with him the old fashioned way,'_ she decided and then lunged at the teen…

Meanwhile Naruto batted Donna away as she lunged at him and Sportsmaster. Said elder blond flung his baton at the girl but she batted it away with her shield. The Amazon then flipped and turned in the air and landed in a low crouch across from them. The girl twirled her sword at her side and narrowed her eyes on the two blond thieves while Sportsmaster glanced at Naruto.

"Think you can take her?" the elder blond questioned and Naruto hummed and rubbed his chin in mock thought.

"To dinner? Cause honestly with a body like that I'd be crazy not too!" he quipped with a wide grin. To be totally honest he was only being half playful and half serious, cause he really would take her out to dinner with her looks. _'God what is it with this world and all the hot women in it?'_ the younger blond briefly wondered to himself. Sportsmaster couldn't help a slight chuckle while Donna rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, I don't date criminals," the girl stated and then lunged forward. Naruto rolled his eyes as he pulled his Wakizashi out to block her sword and dug his heels in the ground. 'Kaimon Kai!' Naruto thought as he opened the first gate to help match the girl's strength. He couldn't help a satisfied smirk as the Amazon looked at him in surprise when he not only managed to match her strength.

"Aww really?" he complained teasingly, "and here I thought we could go and get to know each other better," he noted with a dramatic sigh. As he did Sportsmaster chuckled and made his way to the lock boxes and started to open them. _'Going to have to bring this guy with me on a few jobs in the future,'_ the elder blond decided. As he did Naruto deflected Donna to the side and flipped back as she swung her sword at him.

"A long walk at the beach," the blond remarked with a hand to the side as he landed on his feet. He then rolled to the side as she came at him with a swing of her sword. "A candle lit dinner by the bay," he suggested as he flipped over the girl. Donna growled low in her throat and lunged at him once more. However he grabbed her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist in a twirl.

He then swung her out and pulled her close in what could only be a mock dance move as he faced her nose to nose. "Maybe a little dancing under the moon," he suggested with a hidden wiggle of his eyebrows. Donna frowned and narrowed her eyes on the skull masked theif.

"Hmmm, sounds romantic," Donna remarked and swung her shield at the blond. Naruto released her and rolled back into a low crouch. Donna then twirled her sword at her side and narrowed her eyes on the blond, "but only if you're planning on dining in jail," she declared firmly. Naruto shrugged and shook his head in response as he got back up and kept his eyes trained on the dark haired beauty.

"Nah, I hear the service there is lousy," he remarked and Donna smirked.

"Well before the night is out," she began as she dropped into a stance, "you'll be able to find out," she declared firmly. She then lunged at the blond with a swing of her sword, which the blond blocked with his wakizashi.

"Aww, I bet you say that to all the thieves," the blond quipped. Donna just looked at the masked blond with a bemused expression before she nearly slammed her shield into his face. Naruto yelped and ducked back to avoid the shield and hummed. "You know, that shield really brings out the color of your eyes," he remarked playfully. Donna frowned and then lunged forward to ram her shoulder into the blond, only for him to vanish in a plume of smoke.

"Ugh I'm starting to understand why Robin hates you so much," the Amazonian beauty remarked bluntly. She then yelped and leaped away as Naruto appeared and looked at her from over her shoulder. "How did you!?" she demanded and Naruto grinned.

"Well first of all, thief, stealth is kind of my thing doll," he reminded her as if it was obvious, which it was, "second, aww so the kid does think about me," he stated and then chuckled to himself. "And here I was starting to think he didn't care," he quipped and then flipped back as Donna launched at him. She swung her sword at him several times and then grunted as they locked swords yet again.

"Do you ever shut up?" the amazon demanded bluntly and Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Not while I'm awake!" he declared playfully and then shoved Donna back. As he did he heard a loud bang that drew the attention of everyone in the room. As one they looked to the wall of safes and saw a bright light rise into the air.

[Greet - Greet - Greetings everyone!] a girl's voice declared as a woman appeared on the wall as if it were a screen. The girl was a redhead with her hair slicked back into a mess of spikes, a green domino mask over her eyes and a green top with purple question marks. [I am The Rid - Rid - Riddler's D - D - Daughter!] She declared with her arms stretched wide and an almost insane grin across her lips.

Donna and Wally both groaned when they saw her while Naruto narrowed his eyes at that and placed a hand to his ear to call Gizmo. "Giz we might have a problem," the thief mumbled as he watched the girl grin.

[It is my esteemed pl - pl - pleasure to invite all of you - all of you to acquire the Volatile Promethium,] the girl declared while Naruto heard Gizmo groan.

[Oh fuck its her,] the tiny terror moaned. Naruto blinked and arched a brow.

"You know her?" the skull masked thief questioned.

[Of her,] Gizmo corrected. [She's a crazy little nut case who thinks she's the daughter of random villains from Gotham,] he explained and Naruto raised a brow. He then looked back to the screen as it flashed and the girl leaned forward on her cane.

[Of course it would - would - wouldn't be much fun if I just invited you to my lair - lair - lair,] the girl remarked with a nod of her head. [So that in mind here's a little rid - rid - riddle to wet your appetite!] she exclaimed. [This place of knowledge always begins with a lie - lie - lie!] she stated with an eerie grin. Almost instantly Naruto saw Cheshire and Cypher lunge to the window and leap outside, closely followed by Sportsmaster.

[Now it's been a real _**joy - joy - joy**_ talking to you all,] Duela noted and Naruto frowned. _'Why is there so much emphasis on Joy?'_ the blond wondered. [But I can't give you any more of a helping _**hand - hand - hand**_ ,] she continued, emphasizing 'hand' for some reason. [So be sure to keep your _**sanity - sanity - sanity**_ , if you want to find me!] she exclaimed and then started to laugh as the projection shut off…

"Well guess it's time to hit the streets," Artemis remarked only for Kid Flash to grab her with a frown.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere blondie," the young speedster stated, "you've got a lot of questions to answer," he declared. Artemis looked at him incredulously before she noticed her kunai vanish in a plume of smoke. "What the?" Kid Flash demanded. Naruto had already recalled his weapons to his belt and then formed a hand seal as he saw Donna and Kaldur try to box him in and smirked.

"Later kids, better luck next time," he stated with a mock bow and then grinned, "if there even is a next time…" he intoned as he used a quick Shunshin to vanish in a plume of smoke. The blond reappeared outside of the Dayton Industries Building and frowned deeply. "Great, now I need to go out and find the crazy chick who has the metal we need," he remarked as he cupped his chin, "Got anything for me Giz?" he questioned.

[Well technically the riddle she left would point to the Library but I'm not sure if it really means anything,] the tiny terror replied. Naruto idly nodded his head, something about all the emphasis she put on those words at the end had sounded like a clue to him.

"Yeah… didn't she put a lot of emphasis on three words in particular," he remarked and Gizmo grunted.

[Yeah I noticed that too,] he admitted and hummed softly. [She specifically put a lot of emphasis on joy, hand, and sanity,] Gizmo muttered and snapped his fingers. [Ah I see what she did there; the Library is a red fucking herring! She's at the abandoned Happy Hands Sanitarium out on the outskirts of town!] the tiny terror deduced. Naruto frowned in response.

"You sure about that giz?" Naruto questioned lowly.

[She said and meant 'this place of knowledge begins with a lie' and is dressed like the Riddler before she put emphasis on three specific words. This is a word puzzle, a pretty good one too,] the tiny terror admitted. [Most people think that Riddler is always literal when he sends riddles, but sometimes he likes to get really creative and send a riddle in a riddle,] he remarked and Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

"Right then Giz," the blond remarked and narrowed his eyes. "So how do I get this place I need to be?" he questioned. A few moments later and a map appeared on his HUD with a Red-X on a spot outside of town. "Gizmo you rock!" the blond declared with an amused laugh. He then lunged forward and seemed to blur into motion before vanishing in a plume of smoke…

00

(Meanwhile…)

As the Titans left Dayton Industries, and dragged Artemis with them, three figures looked into the building from the hole in the wall. "Well damn, this was a bust," Killer Moth remarked and pouted. "And I really wanted to see what I could do with the mutagenic properties of that Promethium too," he noted with a sigh. Willow, clad in her base armor with an LC2 Olive-Drab Pistol Belt and Butt-Pouch around her waist, and silk-shooters on her wrists, idly patted his shoulder from her spot hanging from the wall beside him by her hands and feet.

The girl had managed to scale the wall of the building using a combination of her chitin and slime. She did so by creating the same 'hairs' on her limbs out of chitin that actual bugs used to climb walls. However in order to make them stickier and thereby support her weight she'd also allowed them to be coated in her slime. This had given her enough adhesion to stick to the walls and climb them like a real insect.

Of course Killer Moth himself could simply scale the walls like a bug without such a complicated method.

"It's alright Uncle Drury, we'll get the next batch or something," she suggested in a placating tone. The mutated mothman sighed but nodded his head in agreement. As he did Kitten, dressed in a mostly black costume with Pink-X's on her chest, hands, feet, and skull-mask groaned and palmed her face. She was riding on Killer Moth's back, seeing as she didn't have the ability to adhere to walls like her father and cousin.

"But I wanted to try out my new outfit!" she complained and pouted beside her father. Willow looked between her relatives and then shook her head. She looked Kitten's 'suit' up and down and then clicked her tongue. _'Spandex was the worst idea she could have possibly had for a suit,'_ the armored girl noted to herself. Though perhaps that was just cause she was used to forming armor and using it… meh.

"You do know your suit is kind of… bad, right," she told her cousin honestly. Kitten rounded on her, however Killer Moth nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah she's right," he noted. Kitten looked at the man with a clearly hurt expression and he huffed. "Don't give me that look Kitten, I've used a spandex costume before," he reminded her and then rubbed his head. "No fucking protection and believe me when I say you want some kind of padding for when people punch you," he noted with a shudder, his numerous encounters with Batman and Batgirl coming to mind.

"Well," Kitten began and then sighed, "Okay maybe you have a point," she allowed. Killer Moth nodded and then rubbed his chin as he looked at his daughter's outfit. While he wasn't sure he liked her inspiration for it, he did admit it had some potential. Especially since Red-X clearly wore a lot of padding and armor. Any kind of costume that provided his little girl protection was good in his mind.

"Say, why don't I get in contact with Scarab and Firefly and see about getting your outfit upgraded," the man offered. He and the other insect themed villains were almost like friends when they met up. He'd actually had their help busting Willow out of the 'H.I.V.E.' and had actually considered calling Queen Bee for help as well. Not the actual queen of Bialya of course, but the 'alien' known as Queen Bee, but that seemed like overkill…

"Wait, you mean it?" Kitten asked brightly. Killer Moth smiled and nodded his head. "Aw thank you daddy!" she declared and hugged him around his neck. The Mutated Mothman chuckled in response and grinned to himself. While it was true he kind of wanted Kitten to be normal, if she chose to be a villain then he'd help her be the best villain she could possibly be!

"Yeah… but we might want to get out of here before the guards wake up," Willow noted, breaking the two from their moment. They looked at her and then quickly agreed as the three swiftly left the Dayton Industries Building to return home. While they hadn't managed to get any Promethium, or even a clue as to where Duela was, they could at the very least say they'd managed to avoid the Titans.

That was way more than most of the other villains out tonight could boast!

00

TBC…

AN:

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[ _ **3**_ ][ __][ _ **o8-**_ ][ _ **-**_ ][ _ **J**_ ]

ERROR … ERROR

[ _ **3**_ ][ __][ _ **o8-**_ ][ **-** ][ _ **J**_ ]

A girl dropped into her room from the ceiling with a wide grin on her face. "Hello readers and reviewers, we're sorry we were away for so long, but the author had a lot of stuff to do," the girl stated with a bow. She was a familiar girl, albeit with long wavy blond hair and tanned skin. She was dressed in an odd outfit, a red mask with a yellow diamond on the forehead that left her purple eyes and nose down to her chin completely bare.

She also wore a high collared red midriff baring top with a diamond shaped cleavage window, forearm length crimson red gloves, a familiar brown backpack on her back, a pair of red and black striped briefs with yellow tights over her athletic legs, and cuffed crimson knee high boots. "Normally," the girl began as she sat on her usual desk, "I'd pretend to do someone else's intro," she remarked and frowned.

"Unfortunately the author couldn't think of one for this chapter," she noted with a shake of her head and a sigh. She then started to glance around shiftily before she stage whispered to her camera. "If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to make them," she offered. She then stretched her arms up and sighed as she crossed her legs. "In any case, I'm the _**Card Queen**_!" she exclaimed then grinned.

"Like my new uniform?" she questioned and hopped onto her feet and did a little twirl, "I used it back in the day when a bunch of bad guys tried to convince me to help 'em take out Robin," the girl explained. She then sat back down with her arms crossed over her chest. "But funny story I was technically working with the Titans at that point," she noted with an amused smirk. "So of course I helped put 'em in jail," she stated with a nod.

"And just in case you're wondering, no I am not related to the royal flush gang," she stated with a firm nod and crossed her arms. "I'm a queen of all cards, not a single suit!" she stated as she pulled a deck of cards from her back. "See! I have razor cards for everyone!" she declared and flung several of said cards to the side. Most of the cards impacted with several pictures of her 'fathers' and she grinned darkly.

"What can I say, fathers suck!" she declared with a nod. She then crossed her legs once more and idly tapped her fingers on her thighs. "So anyways, those who will likely complain that this wasn't technically my origin be calm. This chapter is more of a set up for the next one, which will really get into the meat of my origins," she stated with a nod of her head and idly looked to her phone.

"Also, the author wanted me to mention he's posted a few new pieces of art for this story on his deviantart page so feel free to check 'em out if you want," the normally redheaded jester stated and then tapped her lower lip. "Isn't that kind of a shameless plug though?" she wondered to herself and then shrugged her shoulders. "Meh, who cares," she decided and then stretched her arms into the air.

"Also, fun fact, Volatile Promethium and Depleted Promethium are both cannon metal alloys in DC," the redhead began with a nod of her head. "To the author's knowledge they first showed up in the eighties in 'The New Teen Titans' and were created by Steve Dayton, BB's adopted Father Mento. The metals were used to make a bomb, and is what Slade's armor is supposed to be made of," she explained then frowned.

"Yeah… apparently someone at Deathbattle wasn't aware of that fact when they tried to match Deadpool against Deathstroke. His armor is made of Volatile Promethium, which was named in honor of 'Prometheus Fire' and has nothing to do with the element of the same name. Volatile Promethium can absorb tremendous amounts of energy, but is also highly mutagenic," the redhead began to explain as she buffed her knuckles on her chest.

"Slade's regenerative factor actually prevents him from mutating, and for all those who are curious, Slade can't re-grow his eye because he got his healing factor AFTER he had already lost it!" the girl stated and shook her head, "Seriously, so many people over look that obvious fact," she murmured and then sighed. "Anyways, other characters who have made armor of the stuff include Arsenal, AKA Roy Harper," she noted and grinned.

"Yep, Roy totally took Depleted Promethium and combined it with Kevlar to make a light and flexible yet near indestructible suit," she explained and then frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Wait… why the fuck has no one else used that shit in all of DC's lore? I mean it's rare yeah but not that rare, and especially not when they know the guy who makes the shit," she noted and then pulled her phone out and smiled.

"Now for my favorite part of the story, Q and A!" she exclaimed cheerfully. However after a moment she paused and held up her index finger. "One second," she stated and then pulled off her mask, alongside the mask was a blond wig, which she happily removed and then ran a hand through her messy hair. "Oh that is so much better," she decided and then cleared her throat.

"Alright first for tonight is," she began only to pause and look to her Baby-Ursa. Today the Baby-Ursa was chewing on a doll of Robin, which the crazy clown girl had given to it after feeling randomly vindictive against the dark squire for some reason. "Drum roll please my Ursa friend!" she pleaded. However she pouted when the Ursa ignored her yet again. "Oh fine," she grumbled and used her phone to find a drum roll instead.

"Dut duh duh duh! _**prototype gear**_!" she exclaimed and then looked to his review with a soft hum. "Pink-X will likely appear a bit more if the author feels like he can fit her in, and she even did appear in this chapter, it was the costume that Kitten was wearing while she was out with Killer Moth and Chitin," the redheaded crazy explained with a nod. She then looked to the next review curiously.

"Aw thanks _**zack silverstone**_ ," the clown girl stated with a smile, "love all you guys too!" she declared and blew a kiss to her camera. Duela then flicked her phone and shook her head at the next review. "Oh _**Devilscreed**_ , there's no need to worry, while work does get in the way we'll eventually get these chapters out," she noted with a nod of her head, only to pause and tap her chin.

"Although," she considered for a moment then shook her head, "no! Nevermind!" she declared. She then read the rest of the review and hummed softly. "To be honest that all depends on how well the author knows a specific hero. Most of the characters he's used thus far are Teen Titans exclusives or started that way and he was able to locate them in their lore and learn about them, it'd be harder for the lesser known leaguers," she noted.

"Sorry _**tamagat**_ , but the pairing is still up in the air, the author isn't sure what he wants to settle on," Duela replied and then looked back to the reviews. "Well _**D N Walker**_ if you want to get technically it's an alternate timeline so it still counts as a flashback for Starfire since it happened in her past," she replied and then hummed in thought, "but at the same time it might be the future so could be a flash forward," she admitted then shrugged.

"I'mma just say I don't know and time travel hurts my brain," she declared as she rubbed at her temples. "Actually _**PFMF**_ , Jinx's powers are the same in this story, including the weird weakness she had when it came to superstitious things that cause bad luck," the crazy clown girl explained. She then looked to her phone and paused at the next review, her eyes glassed over for a moment and a frown crossed her lips.

"Honestly _**reven228**_ , I don't remember back then all that well," she admitted and a grimace crossed her lips. "Sometimes I remember it one way," she admitted and then winced and grabbed her head with both hands, "sometimes I remember it another," she continued and let out a strangled laugh. "P-Personally, if I have to have a past, I'd prefer it ta be multiple choice!" she declared and then clenched her eyes shut tight.

The girl was silent for a moment before she shook her head and focused once more.

"M-Moving on," she stated quickly and looked back to her phone. She paused and raised a brow at the next review then glanced to her camera strangely. "Uhhh… the author says thanks _**Fencer22**_ , if you're complementing him that is," the girl offered and then shrugged and laid down on her desk. She hummed a tune to herself as she looked to the next review with a hum.

"Well _**NeoNazo356**_ , the Author tried the robot Deadpools but their programming caused them to explode," the girl noted as she pulled a random robot arm from seemingly out of nowhere and tossed it to the side. "He also says I'm an 'unpaid intern / figment of his warped imagination' so I don't get a raise either," she continued then frowned, "and finally he refuses to give me Deadpools," she stated and crossed her arms with a pout.

"Besides that it's not so bad renovating the place since I get to do whatever I want to the place and at least he isn't breathing down my neck to finish things up," the redhead noted with a nod and then flicked the screen on her phone. She hummed as she came to the next review and clicked her tongue. "No problem _**Toa Naruto**_ , sorry you weren't first this time but here's hoping for next time," she stated with a wink to her camera.

"As for Cypher zero point three," Duela began and then grimaced, "Yes, she did in fact commit suicide," she admitted awkwardly. "The author felt that, given decades of abuse and torture she would be well within the point of insanity where, in her mind, suicide was her only viable option for escape. Naruto actually hasn't been able to follow any of what Starfire has told Raven thus far, he's still on earth after all," the girl explained then moved on.

"Sorry _**WindyCitySlayer1**_ , but there will be NO Naruto Raven in this story," the girl stated with a slow shake of her head, then narrowed her eyes, "I mean I've said it before and I'm saying it again," she remarked with a sigh. She then moved on and hummed softly with a tap of her chin. "Actually _**Kid Coheed**_ , Kaldur wasn't trained by Aquaman, he's not quite as awesome as the Kaldur in YJ is," she remarked.

"Also, if you look back in the comics from the Eighties you'll find that Mammoth IS actually just as strong, if not stronger, than Wonder Girl and Starfire both. The shows have never really shown how strong he actually is but he can in fact go toe to toe with Donna when he's properly motivated. You also forgot about Kyd and his teleport Hax," the girl explained and then looked back to the phone.

"Hello again _**OBSERVER01**_!" Duela stated with a smile, "Most of your questions are a 'wait and see' I'm afraid. However I have never actually claimed to be a superheroes daughter, I mean I'm the Joker's Daughter, not Batman's daughter or Superman's Daughter or Flash's daughter!" the girl declared with a smile and a shake of her head and then looked back to her phone and hummed.

"Actually no he doesn't, Naruto is completely in the dark about the stuff Starfire is telling Raven right now _**V01dSw0rd**_. There is no bug on the planet that could have a range long enough to follow the Titans to the Vega System. And yes, that is where they are, it's where Tamaran is supposed to be as well," the crazy redhead explained and then looked back to her phone and clicked her tongue.

"Sorry _**InfamousFox**_ , the author doesn't know Bayonetta enough to feel comfortable writing a story about it. He doesn't have the game is why," she replied with an apologetic smile. She then looked back to her phone and tilted her head to one side, "A Crisis _**Ryuunoshin**_ , for now we're going to focus on this story, a Crisis might be way too much for the author to handle," the girl replied then moved on once more.

"Um, thank you for that _**Edrick Twilight Legend**_ ," the redhead began and then glanced at her camera. "To be honest the author was never sure about pairing me with Naruto because he figured most people would consider me more an 'OC' since I'm not identical to the traditional 'Duela' from the Comics," she admitted, then frowned, "Though the New 52 bitch is hardly comparable either," she grumbled irritably.

"Hey _**PugTheMagician**_! First of all not sure what you mean about the Authors suit, but anyways in the chapter Roy mentioned he'd moved their ship when he was talking to Barbara. It was a minor detail but it was there, their Bio-Ship landed in nearly the same spot afterwards so that might've confused you. Yes it's a RWBY Baby-Ursa, _**DocSlendy**_ sent 'em to me a couple chapters ago!" the girl stated as she reached over to pet the Ursa.

It looked up at her strangely, then returned to chewing on the Robin doll while Duela sighed. "Unfortunately the little guy is pretty wild and untamable," she noted and then grinned widely. "Kind of like me!" she declared cheerfully and then looked back to her phone with narrowed eyes. "You'll just have to wait and see _**OMAC001**_ ," the crazy redhead replied and then hopped off of her desk.

She took a brief moment to stretch her arms up over her head and then started to do a few stretches to limber up. Once she was finished she leaned back and looked back to the reviews on her phone with a quiet hum. "Well _**FrustratedReader**_ , sorry you feel that way but to be honest the 'future' story was originally going to be it's own story alone but then the author thought of a few problems with that," the girl and admitted and sighed.

"First and foremost was that if he wrote the 'future' story without the context of this new story he'd be bombarded with way too many confused people who believed that it was a sequel to Red-X Rising. As much as you might complain about it, you can't say some people wouldn't think it was a sequel to Rising if it wasn't a part of this one?" the girl stated with a shake of her head and then leaned back.

"And anyways, there will be at least one more jump into the future to finish it off, we think, maybe two, but honestly the author wanted to write that part of the story and will continue to do so. It is his story after all," she remarked with a shrug. "And to you, _**Drust**_ , the reason he didn't make a direct sequel is because he honestly can't get himself back into the mindset he had back then to write it," she finished and then sighed.

"Anyways I guess that's all for today guys," the redhead stated and then looked around with a hum. She then clicked her tongue and focused on her camera. "I've got to put the last few finishing touches on this place before Naruto and the 'New Titan's' come in to get that Promethium from me," she noted with a nod and then sauntered over to the camera and picked it up with a wide smile.

"My real origin will finally be explained whenever the author updates," she stated and felt a shudder crawl along the length of her spine. She paused to look around warily and then chuckled nervously. "Maybe I'll finally figure out why that seems to scare me so much," she remarked and then cleared her throat. "But for now, until next time, I'll say buh-bye!" she declared and cut the feed out…

STATIC … STATIC

STATIC … STATIC

00


	11. Laughing Mad PT2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 10**_ : _**Laughing Mad PT. 2**_ …

00

(Happy Hands Sanitarium…)

The moment he arrived there was an immediate and stark contrast between Happy Hands and Jump City. Naruto noticed it as soon as he arrived at his destination. Despite all the villains, despite the H.I.V.E., and despite everything that happened in Jump, it was a very bright place. Happy Hands Sanitarium looked like it would be more at home in Gotham, albeit it was somehow still a lot cleaner than anywhere in Gotham.

Naruto shook his head of those thoughts and placed a finger to his ear-plate.

"Hey Giz I'm there," the masked blond stated. However the only reply he received was in the form of static. "The hell?" he wondered and narrowed his eyes. "Gizmo? Jinx? Angel?" he questioned and snarled, "Kami dammit can anyone hear me?!" he demanded and then dropped his arm with a frustrated grunt. "Great, looks like I'm on my own," he muttered and then made his way to the gates of Happy Hands Sanitarium.

Naruto wasn't sure why, but as he approached 'Happy Hands' he felt a chill run down the length of his spine. He approached wrought iron gates, old and sturdy with spikes at the tips of the bars. Naruto looked up, the pale moon hung in the air behind the sanitarium, which seemed to look over him ominously. The wind howled and the blond heard a loud knocking in the distance, while a deep hole had been dug out in the courtyard.

' _Kami-Sama, she sure picked a creepy ass place to set up shop,'_ the blond thought to himself. He then rolled his shoulders and places his hands on the heavy iron gates. He took a quick breath and then gave a great heave and pushed the gate inwards. The Gates creaked and groaned heavily as the blond forced them open. Naruto breathed a sigh as he entered the main courtyard of the sanitarium, only to pause at the sound of music.

' _The hell? Wait, is that… a bass?'_ he wondered then looked to the side at a voice.

"All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces," a girl's voice echoed from the depths of the sanitarium. "Bright and early for the daily races, goin' nowhere, goin' nowhere," the voice continued as Naruto glanced all around. _'Well that's not creepy at all,'_ the blond thought sarcastically with a grimace. He then shook his head and marched in the direction of the voice. "Their tears are fillin' up their glasses, no expression, no expression," he heard the song continue as he went on his way.

"Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow, no tomorrow, no tomorrow," the song continued while Naruto looked up at the buildings around the sanitarium. "And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I'm dyin', are the best I've ever had," the voice continued, while Naruto saw what looked like old broken dolls in one of the windows of the building.

' _Yeah if this place wasn't creepy enough already that sure put it over the edge,'_ the blond thought to himself with a shudder. "I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take, when people run in circles, it's a very very," he heard echo off the walls of the sanitarium and walked around the main building. "Mad World… Mad World," he heard the girl sing in a soft eerie tone, which put him more on edge than he cared to admit.

The blond soon found himself in a large building, an old operation theater of all things. He glanced around warily as he heard the sounds of the music echo off the walls of the building. He narrowed his eyes silently as he passed by old photos, only to halt at one that caught his eye. He idly noticed a little girl with bright red hair smiling, at her sides were a pair of adults who held her hands but had had their faces scratched out.

' _What?'_ Naruto wondered then looked up as the singing started again.

"Children waitin' for the day they feel good, happy birthday, happy birthday," the song echoed and Naruto followed the sound. He came out in an observation area and noticed a girl sitting in the center of the operation theater. She sat with her legs crossed beneath her, on a number of turned over file cabinets. Said files were strewn all about the floor at her feet and her eyes were closed as she plucked at the strings of her bass.

How she managed that with the needles on her fingers, he'd never know…

"Made to feel the way that every child should, sit and listen, sit and listen," the girl continued to sing while Naruto got a look at her. Her hair was red, but her skin was a deathly pallor, a noose hung from her neck, with a stitched up knee length brown tunic with a hood, a rope tied around her waist with a tiny oil-lantern, bandages around her forearms, shins, and feet, and needle tipped gloves with tubes that wrapped around her arms and disappeared beneath her tunic. He also noticed a gasmask, decorated by a white skull at her side.

' _It looks like the same girl,'_ Naruto noted to himself as he approached, then paused when he saw a file blow up to his feet.

"Went to school and I was very nervous, no one knew me, no one knew me," he heard the girl continued to sing as he picked up the file. [ _Patient Name: **********_ _ **NOT MY NAME**_ _Age: 12_ _ **SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN**_ _Date Admitted: **********_ _ **A VERY BAD DAY**_ _Note: Patient has had a history of mental problems pertaining to night terrors and schizophrenia._ _ **DON'T BELIEVE, THE TRUTH IS MUCH STRANGER**_ ]

' _The hell is this?'_ Naruto wondered with narrowed eyes. The more rational half he understood, though it'd also been heavily blacked out and edited. The weird parts on the other hand were as if someone had found the file and decided to start editing it for the sake of… well… a joke.

"Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson? Look right through me, look right through me," Naruto ignored the singing girl as he turned the page to the next part of the file. [ _Date: ****/**/**_ _ **A MONSTROUSLY BAD DAY**_ _Officers were sent to deal with a disturbance at Happy Hands Sanitarium dealing with an escaped patient._ _ **IT'S ME**_ _The patient had somehow managed to create a paranoia / fear enhancement drug similar to the Fear Toxin created by Jonathan Crane AKA Scare Crow._ _ **DADDY DEAREST**_ ]

' _Okay starting to get a picture,'_ Naruto noted as he paused to listen for the song.

"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I'm dyin', are the best I've ever had," she continued and Naruto looked to the next page in the file. [ _Upon examination the patient showed signs of what can only be classed as dissociative identity disorder._ _ **WE'RE ALL MAD HERE**_ _It also appears her schizophrenia has worsened as she says she was murdered several times,_ _ **DEE DEE IS SO NICE AND PERKY**_ _including one time where she was shot in the head,_ _ **BAD TIM TIM**_ _and has even had a mess of bats in her hair._ _ **IT'LL NEVER GROW BACK LIKE IT WAS :(**_ ]

' _I'm going to guess the patient wrote all this extra stuff,'_ Naruto thought with a frown. He also noticed the next one was a continuation for the earlier police report.

"I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take, when people run in circles, it's a very very," the song continued while Naruto frowned at the file. [ _Officers attempted to apprehend the patient but were met by extreme hostility._ _ **I DON'T BELONG HERE**_ _The patient displayed abnormal strength and endurance for a girl her age, size, and weight._ _ **I WANT**_ _ **TO GO HOME**_ _The patients parents to calm her down, but the gas was set off ************************************************************************ till she was finally captured, laughing and sobbing uncontrollably._ _ **I'M SO SORRY**_ ]

' _Something happened back then,'_ Naruto noted as he saw a messy scrawl, inked out portions of text, and what looked like tear stains at the end of the report. _'Something really bad,'_ the blond decided. He then looked up as he heard the music start to slow down and saw the girl, her purple eyes had misted over with unshed tears and she stared at a picture at her feet intently.

"Mad World… Mad World… Enlarging your world… Mad World," the song slowed and then finally stopped. The girl was silent as she put her bass to the side and picked up her gasmask then slipped it on. Once it was on there was a low gurgle-click as she looked up and focused her eyes on Naruto. "It's not nice to look at someone's private things," she remarked bluntly and got up, her legs spread and arms hanging akimbo.

"So is stealing things and I don't think you were too broken up about that," Naruto remarked bluntly. He then watched the girl twitch, her neck snapping to one side with a sickening crunch that caused him no small amount of disgust. He then watched as the girl placed her hands onto the floor and started to flip towards him. She came to a halt directly in front of him and tilted her head to one side.

After a moment Naruto placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes.

"You're Duela, right?" the blond questioned.

"No," the girl stated. Naruto blinked and arched a brow.

"Wha," he began but she cut him off.

"I am n-not Duela," she insisted and then stepped back and gave a low bow, "I am the Scarecrows Daughter, _**The Scare Crone**_! And you will remember that name," she declared firmly. Naruto merely hummed and then rubbed at his head with a tired sigh. _'I so do not have time for this nut case,'_ he thought to himself as he pointed a finger at the girl and narrowed his eyes.

"Look, just hand over the Volatile Promethium and I won't have to make things messy for ya," the blond suggested. However the girl twitched and then narrowed her manic looking eyes dangerously.

"Did you know the H.I.V.E. have a surprisingly detailed file on you?" she questioned. Naruto rolled his eyes in response. _'Red-X hasn't shown that much, what could they possibly have… also how'd she get it?'_ he wondered with a frown.

"How would you get something like that?" he questioned curiously. Duela's eyes flashed.

"Their security protocols are surprisingly lax," she admitted. It'd taken her all of five minutes to break into the H.I.V.E.'s database from a remote server. Even if they started looking for her they'd end up out in Bialya before they figured out they'd been had. Naruto however hummed and rubbed his chin. That could probably come in handy later on if he were honest.

"Right," he murmured and then raised a brow, "So what juicy little tidbits did you get out of 'em?" he asked her curiously. The girl tilted her head and then back flipped away from him. She landed in a low crouch and looked up at him passed the shadows of her hood.

"Red-X, Alias Tempest AKA Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto," she recited as she slowly stood up and Naruto tensed, "Species unknown, age seventeen, height five foot ten, known powers include elemental manipulation, minor reality warping, energy manipulation and shaping, poison resistance, enhanced strength, durability, speed, regeneration, and senses," she finished as if she were reading off a bio-sheet.

"Well," Naruto began with a tight frown, "That's honestly a lot more than I expected from the H.I.V.E.," he admitted with a frown. _'Note to self, have Giz find and erase all traces of me from the H.I.V.E.'s systems later,'_ the blond decided internally. The girl began to giggle in response, a mad almost psychotic sound that echoed in the open room.

"Ohh it gets even better," Duela assured him as she started to sway in place. "Known weaknesses include extreme arrogance, disrupting the energy flow of his 'Chakra', 'a bleeding heart', and the need to use his hands for a majority of his more potent abilities," she recited and Naruto blinked. _'They actually found my weaknesses?'_ he asked himself in no small amount of surprise.

In his time at the H.A.E.Y.P. he'd never once encountered any 'weaknesses'. Admittedly some of them were likely conjecture but they sounded plausible to the blond. Some of them, such as the chakra disruption, had even happened to him in the elemental nations and had been highly effective. He didn't know how anyone would manage it in this world without seals, but just the fact it was apparently known was worrying.

Unfortunately for the blond, Duela hadn't considered that one as an 'exploitable' weakness. She did however know of two she could easily exploit, albeit they would only work once before he became too angry for them to work again. The two in question, first was obviously his arrogance, the blond underestimated the people of this world far too much and it was going to get him into trouble. Second… well…

"Think fast!" she exclaimed and hurled something at the blond. Naruto did think fast, he reacted nigh immediately as he caught the object only to yelp as his hands were instantly frozen solid. As his hands were suddenly preoccupied, the red head dropped down and quickly lunged forward.

"The fuck is this!?" Naruto demanded before grunting as Duela bowled him over. He hit the ground with another grunt and glared at the red head. She rested atop him, with clear amusement dancing in her manic purple eyes.

"Just a little gift from uncle Freeze," she replied with a giggle.

"Isn't it Mister Freeze," the blond remarked bluntly. He then arched a brow as he saw a look of confusion cross Duela's face.

"Are… are you sure?" she questioned and then looked up with her head tilted to the side, "cause I could've sworn mom said," she muttered while Naruto tried to kick her off. However the girl, in an impressive show of flexibility and acrobatic maneuverability, manage to flip off of him and then land back on top of him. The blond grunted again while the girl giggled and grinned.

"Oh you were just trying to confuse me," she deduced. Naruto just stared at her incredulously. _'Is all this just an act or is she really this clueless?'_ he wondered to himself. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure I can't hold you like this forever," she remarked and looked at the needles clipped to her fingers. "But I can at least get you out of my hair until the Titans get here," she decided with a nod of her head.

"Doll," Naruto began with a frown, "did you forget I have poison resistance?" the blond questioned bluntly. Instead of answering Duela began to giggle to herself.

"No, but this isn't exactly a poison," the girl remarked. She then flipped back and landed in a low crouch as Naruto twisted his body into a spin kick. The blond then flipped into a low crouch, frozen hands hanging and eyes narrowed. "Ooh, some one is certainly a fighter," the demented redhead remarked. Naruto grunted in response and then slammed his ice-coated hands into the ground to try and break the ice.

' _Shit,'_ he thought as the surprisingly sturdy ice held firm, _'this could actually be bad,'_ he admitted to himself. While he was definitely stronger and faster than Duela, she was clearly a lot smarter than he'd given her credit for. Not only that but she had at least an inkling of how to take him on, which was more than he could say for the Titans. Starfire knew how to take his mask off, sure, but that seemed to be it…

"You're not paying attention!" Duela declared as she leaped onto his back. Naruto grunted and then swung his upper body to the side to throw her off. However the crazy redhead merely showed her flexibility once more as she maneuvered around him and stabbed her needle capped fingers into one of the weaker portions of his suit. The blond hissed as he felt the needles pierce his flesh and lashed out at her again.

The crazy redhead ducked below his attack and then flipped back onto his back, grabbed around his neck and slammed him into the ground in an insane show of flexibility. She landed in a low crouch while the blond landed with a grunt. Before he could react the girl stabbed her needle-capped fingers into another portion of his suit, only for him to kick her back and across the room.

"Ha!" he crowed and then started to climb back to his feet. However as he did he felt bile form in his throat and fell to his knees while Duela began to giggle.

"One wasn't enough, two clearly just makes you queasy," she noted and then crawled forward. She eventually turned her crawl into a lunge and stuck him with her needle capped fingers yet again. "So lets see if third times the charm!" she exclaimed with a mad glint in her visible eyes. Naruto growled low in his throat and felt his throat constrict, the world started to melt away and Duela's body began to jerk and twitch.

"Th-The fuck did you do?" he demanded as his vision began to distort and a horrible soulless laughter echoed in the depths of his mind.

"It's a funny little concoction dear daddy Scarecrow made," the girl replied and tilted her head to one side. "Fear Toxin, but I did you one better and put just a hint of Smilex in it as well!" the girl declared with a giggle. As she did Naruto started to cough and felt his muscles all tense up and bring him down to his knees. "Truth be told I have no idea how the two will interact with each other," she admitted as she pulled her fingers free.

She then picked his face up by his cheeks with a devious look in her eyes. However to Naruto she looked like a black silhouette, the only color he could see was the bright burning yellow that exhumed from her eyes and formed smoking cracks along the rest of her body. He shook his head to rid himself of the obviously distorted image yet it persisted and the world around him twisted alongside her appearance.

"Y-you're crazy," the blond stated as he felt the floor started to collapse. Was it really collapsing or was his mind just trying to process the crazy drugs the girl had pumped him full of. The laughter seemed to grow louder and louder as well, but it was with a start that he realized it was coming from him. He was laughing but it hurt and yet for some reason he wasn't able to stop laughing.

" _ **Well sure,"**_ Duela replied as she started to grow bigger and bigger, soon towering over him as her yellow eyes turned into blinding searchlights. _**"But then again, madness is like gravity,"**_ she noted casually as she dipped a single massive finger towards the blond. _**"All it takes, is a little push,"**_ she remarked as she flicked the blond back. Naruto continued to laugh as he fell backwards into the darkness as the shadows grasped him from all sides…

00

(Jump City, California…)

Artemis felt her eye twitch as she was shoved into the temporary JCPD building. It was, in fact, technically the fire department, but they'd had to hold up somewhere while the actual JCPD Building was being rebuilt. Regardless, the blond girl glared at the young speedster who shoved her. Said speedster was keeping a close eye on her while Donna and Kaldur talked to a familiar officer.

The 'New Titans' had decided to drag her with them as they went to the police about the 'clue' this 'Duela' girl had dropped on them. _'Fuck why are they going to the library? Any moron who knows Riddler knows he wouldn't make a clue that simple,'_ she noted to herself with a frown. Riddler's gimmick was a bit silly, sure she'd give you that, but he was anything but obvious.

Especially since practically everyone had google on their phone…

Still, she was more annoyed by the fact she was being held against her will… not to mention the stupid cuffs. She glared down at said metal bracelets and then at the young speedster. There were many questions in her mind, but the most prominent was simply. "Why the hell did you put cuffs on me?!" she demanded. Wally glanced at her and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because we caught you in the Dayton Industries building with a known thief, and no less than three assassins," he replied bluntly, "not really a meeting that inspires too much trust," he remarked with a flick of her nose. Artemis snarled and snapped at his fingers, but he pulled his hand away. "Ooh someone's feisty," he quipped. Artemis felt her eye twitch and then glared fiercely at the redhead.

"I was only there because I was trying to stop Cheshire and Sportsmaster!" she all but roared. He made to reply, however paused when he saw Donna and Kaldur approached them along with an officer. Artemis frowned and stared at said officer with narrowed eyes. _'I could swear I've seen him before,'_ she thought to herself as she looked at the brown haired man…

"Did something happen?" Wally questioned of his friends and Donna sighed.

"The police had a squad go out and check the library," the girl began and crossed her arms, "but there was no sign of Duela or the promethium anywhere," the amazon reported, "so unless those assassins grabbed it and her already, and without much of a fight, she wasn't there," she finished with a sigh. Wally palmed his face and groaned as the officer cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I'm Officer Connors," the man stated as he held a hand to Wally. The redhead blinked then accepted the hand in a firm shake. "Now, you kids said this chick's name was Duela and that she left a riddle for you to find where she was, right?" he questioned as he crossed his arms. Wally nodded while Donna rubbed her chin.

"Duela is an old friend of ours," the girl began and Artemis snorted.

"Some friend," she muttered. She got a look from Wally while Donna sighed.

"She also might be a little angry with us," she admitted. Officer Connors arched a brow and Donna looked away with a grimace. "We kind of put her in a mental hospital the last time we saw her," she explained. Officer Connors hummed in response while Wally rubbed his forehead.

"It was for her own good," Wally stated firmly. Having worked with Flash against the Trickster, he knew mental illness and Duela clearly had at least a few of the same problems as James. Certainly she wasn't as violent as the blond man could get but she still did things that were questionable. _'Especially when she turns into Scare-Crone,'_ he thought with a shudder while Donna nodded.

"Yes, but that aside she might be holding it against us," the Amazonian warrior noted with her arms crossed. "Although even if she was, that wouldn't explain her riddle was completely wrong," she remarked. Officer Connors nodded and then glanced at Kaldur.

"Something you want to add?" he questioned. The dark skinned teen nodded his head.

"I was thinking, perhaps her riddle was simply not as straight forward as we expected it to be," the atlantian suggested. Artemis snorted and then looked at the blond boy with a bemused expression.

"Well duh, it's kind of obvious," she remarked bluntly. It earned looks from the three, as well as Officer Connors. "I'm from Gotham, I've seen some of Riddler's riddles before, and I can tell you she didn't mean the library," she admitted with a shrug. Officer Connors idly stowed that tidbit away while Donna looked at the girl.

"Then do you have an idea of what the riddles actual answer was?" she questioned. Artemis nodded, and then went silent. After a moment Donna growled and placed her hands on her hips. "Then are you going to tell us?" the amazon questioned. In response she raised her still cuffed wrists and shot a deadpan expression at them.

"First things first, the cuffs come off," she stated bluntly. Wally scoffed and narrowed his eyes on the blond girl.

"Yeah right, like we're just gonna," he began only to pause as Officer Connors reached over and unlocked her cuffs. "But she," he tried to say and the man glanced at him with a thin frown.

"I got nothing that'll let me hold her," the man stated. Wally gaped at him while Artemis rubbed at her wrists, then stared at the man with squinted eyes. _'I know I've seen this guy before,'_ she thought with a hum.

"Breaking and entering," Wally retorted. However Connors snorted.

"Yeah sure, but I checked the cameras and her story checks out, and I could bust all four of you for that," he replied a bit snarkily. The 'new titans' weren't sure how to respond to that. "Not to mention Wonder Girl over there has caused several thousand dollars worth of property damage, not to mention she literally broke the wall and entered the building," he stated with a thumb pointed at said girl who blushed and looked away.

"Then fish boy here decided to steal all the water out of the fountain in front of the Dayton Industries building and caused an extra couple thousand dollars of property damage, which makes me thankful for T.U.R.F.," the man continued with a hand on Kaldur's shoulder. The dark skinned lad flinched and looked away. "And then we have you," he began and Wally quickly raised his hands.

"Alright alright I get it!" the young speedster declared. He also pointedly ignored the smug look on Artemis' face. He then turned to said girl with a sigh and looked at her with clear annoyance. "So you were telling us about the riddle," he recalled. Artemis smirked with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, it's kind of simple, she said 'this place of knowledge begins with a lie' and it was a double meaning," she replied. Officer Connors hummed in response, idly rubbing the brown fuzz on his face as he did.

"She was basically saying the first half of the riddle was a lie," he remarked and Artemis gave a silent nod. She then narrowed her eyes and raised her forearm to block out the man's forehead. With the dark grey color of her glove he started to look a whole lot more familiar but she still couldn't quite place why…

"That would mean that the part that sounded less important was the actual clue," Kaldur guessed and Donna grunted.

"When did Duela get so clever?" she wondered with a hand on her hip. Wally snorted in response.

"She probably picked it up from D," the young speedster paused at a look from Donna. He then shook his head and cleared his throat. "Rob, back when they dated," he remarked and got a nod from Donna. Artemis however looked at them incredulously.

"Robin dated a girl dressed up like the Riddler?" she demanded.

"No," Donna replied with a shake of her head. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh good I thought," she began before Wally interrupted.

"She was dressed up like the Joker when they dated," the young speedster remarked. Artemis paused and then stared at the two strangely.

"You… you're joking?" the blond asked as she looked between the two. However neither replied, instead they looked away from the blond haired girl. She felt her eye twitch and then gaped at the two of them. "Oh good lord please tell me you're joking!?" she pleaded desperately. When neither Donna nor Wally made to speak she placed her head in her hands and groaned, only to pause as a thought occurred to her.

"Wait, they dated," she noted and got nods from Donna and Wally. "Then was this before or after you guys put her in the asylum?" she questioned curiously. Wally grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well… technically that was his way of breaking things off with her," he admitted. Artemis looked at him incredulously and he shrugged helplessly. "Look Rob hasn't always been the brightest guy when it comes to girls," he remarked. Donna nodded her head in agreement and Artemis just continued to stare at them. She then shook her head slowly and sighed heavily.

"She's going to kill him," she stated bluntly. At least she'd kill him if she were in the same position as Duela. Breaking up with her was one thing, putting her in an asylum as a way of breaking up with her? Yeah, that was pretty much a one-way trip to getting yourself an archenemy for the rest of your life. She blinked and looked up as the Officer suddenly cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Back to the point," Officer Connors interrupted them and they looked back to him, "what exactly was the second half of her riddle?" he questioned. The three heroes paused and looked to one another. After a moment Donna snapped her fingers.

"I remember she mentioned something about a 'helping hand," she noted. Wally nodded his head while Kaldur frowned deeply.

"Did she not also mention it's been 'such a joy'," he added. Artemis then looked up and exhaled a sigh.

"She also mentioned 'keeping your sanity," she offered. Officer Connors paused at that and rubbed his chin. _'Joy, helping hand, sanity,'_ he thought and then snapped his fingers as something came to mind.

"She probably means Happy Hands Sanitarium," he deduced.

"Great," Wally declared, "so where is that?" he questioned with a look at Artemis. The blond girl frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I've lived here less than a day, how would I know where that is?" she demanded of the speedy redhead. Officer Connors idly stowed that tidbit away as well and then grunted and pulled out his phone. He then pulled up a map and showed them where.

"It's about here," he stated as he pointed to the outskirts of town. Wally nodded but before he could rush off the man placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wait up, if you decide to go, then I'd be careful," he warned. Artemis looked at him strangely.

"Any reason for that?" she questioned.

"Your 'Duela' reminded me of some old stories about Happy Hands, 'bout five years ago they had a patient who went completely nuts. Started making some kind of paranoia inducing gas," he explained. It caused Wally and Donna to look at one another worriedly while the man continued. "She gassed the entire place, the police who were on sight started to shoot at random things," he continued and frowned.

"There were quite a few casualties as a result including a couple of doctors and other civilians," he continued, "and if this just happens to be the same girl, then you're going to be on her home turf," he noted with a serious expression. Wally frowned at that and then brushed Connor's hand from his shoulder.

"We'll be careful," he assured him before he zipped off. As he did Donna and Kaldur hurried out and Artemis was quick to follow.

"One thing before you go," he called out. Artemis paused and turned to the man and saw him pull a cigarette from his pocket and light it. He inhaled once and then breathed out a bit of smoke as he looked at the blond girl. "When you see him again, tell Sportsmaster that Snake says hi," he stated with a slight wave. He then placed his cig between his lips and walked off while Artemis gaped.

"Snake," she whispered with wide eyes and then turned and hurried away. _'The fuck is someone like him doing here as a beat cop?!'_ she internally demanded as she rushed to catch up with Kaldur and Donna. The amazon had just leaped into the air to fly off but before Kaldur could leave the girl leaped onto his back. "Oh no, you are so not going anywhere without me!" she stated firmly. Kaldur glanced back at her and sighed.

"Hang on," he stated and then pulled some water from a nearby fire hydrant before shooting into the air and riding on the wave…

00

(?)

Naruto stumbled through the darkness; he swayed from side to side as a terrible sound started piercing into his head like a blade. He could still hear that horrible soulless laughter, but that other sound was so much worse. It was like… like… like a knife, but it sounded like an instrument as well. The sound was like madness in and of itself and it was trying desperately to plunge as deeply into his mind as it could.

He abruptly fell to his knees and grasped at the sides of his head. He closed his eyes tightly and grit his teeth as he tried to ignore the sound. Yet suddenly it changed, now more like a violin still played with a knife, but far less irritating. The blond haired youth looked up, only to find himself in a large factory. He was knelt down on one of the catwalks while smoke seemed to rise up from the many vats around him.

' _Feels… so familiar,'_ Naruto thought as he reached to the side and gripped the guardrail of the catwalk. He looked all around before he felt the skull on his mask break and fall away. As the skull fell it revealed the cracked deep dark red glass that lay beneath it. The blond ignored it as he stumbled forward, he ignored the heavy coat he was wearing and instead came to a rest at the center of the catwalks and looked down.

He could see the vat below him, filled with a noxious green substance that bubbled and boiled. Naruto gripped the side of his head as the laughter continued to echo and then swayed back, then forth and fell towards the vat below. He fell into the liquid, towards the bottom and simply lay there for a time, the substance spilled passed the crack in his mask and caused him to start to drown before he finally started to swim out.

He came out hacking and coughing and fell to the side, a pool of the noxious liquid beneath him as he tore his mask away. He froze, he dared not look at what was below him as the laughter continued to echo all around him. Instead he focused on the eyes he saw in the liquid, the horrible, sickly green eyes that seemed to glow. The kind of eyes that showed no mercy, no kindness, no sanity…

He simply stared at those eyes, till finally a white hand clad in a fingerless black glove reached from the green liquid and pulled him down below. The hand dragged him deeper and deeper until he landed in a crouch in the deepest darkness imaginable. He landed with a grunt and rolled to the side. He looked up and paused when he saw a man with his back to him, clad in a long purple trench coat, gripping a razor and a violin as he played a song.

But as he did the song seemed to slow, becoming more horrible, calm and twisted. It echoed in the blond's ears while he slowly rose back to his feet. The other man, his dark green hair swept back into an array of messy spikes, continued to play, then turned slightly, a horrible grin on his face, a twisted mocking parody of a smile and green eyes tinted with madness and pure malevolence glared at him mockingly.

The man lightly began to thump his hand against his violin as he continued to play. Naruto gripped his head, each thump thundered in his ears as he slowly stumbled towards the man. He eventually reached out and turned the man around by his coat, only to pause at the face he saw. He stumbled back, eyes wide as the man began to chuckle, his grin wide and horrible. It was a familiar face, one that he knew all too well…

"No," he breathed as the twisted parody of a smile widened into an inhuman grin, the malevolent creature breaking out into barking laughter. Naruto fell to the ground as the man approached him, hands in his pockets as he pulled out a knife and flipped it in one hand. He whistled a jaunty tune as he then knelt down and placed a hand on the back of Naruto's head and grinned wider than ever.

" _ **What's the matter?"**_ he questioned, _**"Why so serious?"**_ the thing questioned in a low horrible whisper. He then grappled with Naruto, laughing insanely as they fell back into the darkness. The blond grit his teeth as he struggled against the monster he found himself against. The two struggled as they fell deeper and deeper into the darkness, before nine familiar tails reached from somewhere to pull them apart…

Naruto awoke with a start, eyes wide as he breathed heavily. He glanced around to see that he was in his 'mindscape'. It'd changed some in years, the 'sewer' it'd once been having been broken down to expose a vast forest instead. Naruto groaned as he sat up a with hand to his head. "The hell was that?" he questioned shakily.

" **A part of you, better left buried,"** came the reply from Naruto's resident tenant. The blond glanced back to see Kurama, full and whole, gazing at him languidly. It rested with its limbs folded under it as it lay beneath an abnormally large tree. Naruto grunted in response and grinned at the massive tailed beast.

"Oy Kurama, haven't seen you for a while," the blond remarked with a wide grin. The tailed beast mutely smirked.

" **I was sleeping,"** he deadpanned, **"then when I wake up I find we're in a completely different world,"** he noted with a shake of his head. He then hummed as he looked Naruto up and down. **"Then I figured you wouldn't need me here, the majority of runts in this world make you seem like a powerhouse by comparison,"** he replied with a shake of his head. Naruto snickered to himself and then grimaced at a look from Kurama.

" **Now what the fuck was that shit I just spent a shit ton of chakra trying to burn out of your system?"** the bijuu demanded. **"And then please tell me you're not going to be encountering it anymore often?"** he pleaded with a frown. **"I'm serious about it taking a shit ton to burn it out of your system, that junk was trying to hang onto you or something,"** he noted with a frown.

Naruto smiled at his friends 'concern'; Kurama was still a bit of a jackass after all. However at the reminder of the 'junk' in his system a frown worked its way across his face and his eyes hardened. _'I was being way too cocky with that Duela chick,'_ he decided firmly. He'd probably been way too cocky with a lot of the other villains of this world, but he'd never really thought they had ways of subduing him.

"Some crazy combination of Smilex, a poison that kills you by making you literally laugh yourself to death, and a chemical agent that instills fear and paranoia and warping the perception of reality," Naruto replied. He saw the look of shock on Kurama's face, but it quickly vanished as the beast narrowed its eyes.

" **These humans might not have chakra, but by Kami do they find strange new ways to kill each other,"** the beast remarked and Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Let it never be said that humanity wasn't efficient at killing things, especially each other. While Shinobi were also good at it, the sheer numbers that Humanity was able to obliterate in an instant was kind of terrifying in its own way… especially since they didn't need chakra.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed and scratched the back of his head. "So can I count on you to back me up if I ever need it while I'm here Kurama?" he questioned. The beast snorted and moved a paw out towards the blond. Naruto grinned and fist bumped the paw.

" **Sure, partner,"** the beast replied with a roll of his eyes, **"just be sure to make it worth my time,"** he added seriously. **"I don't care that you felt you needed time off, to be honest I feel like I needed time off and so I'm catching up on my sleep while we're here. So don't start any wars and don't expect me to save you every five minutes and we're fine,"** he noted with a yawn. Naruto couldn't help but snicker to himself.

"Lazy ass," he quipped and Kurama scoffed.

" **You try keeping a scrawny brat like you alive through the majority of his battles and see how much sleep you get,"** the bijuu retorted. Naruto scowled at the shot and then hopped back to his feet. He brushed himself off and walked off.

"Yeah well, take care Kurama," he remarked with a raised hand, "I've got to go find that crazy redhead now," he noted. Kurama raised a brow at that and glanced into the nearby pool of water to see Naruto's recent memories. He paused when he saw Duela and blinked owlishly for a moment. The girl looked familiar, the bright red hair and purple eyes especiall… wait…

" **Kushina had those features,"** he recalled with a deep frown, **"No wonder she's so much trouble,"** the bijuu remarked. Hopefully his container either didn't notice the slight similarity, or didn't care. Either way, he really hoped that he punched her in the face at least once…

00

(With Naruto…)

The blond haired young man blinked open his real eyes and then gave a start as he found himself in a closed wooden box. He blinked owlishly for a moment then tried to move, barely managing to place his hands on the lid and pushed. He found there was a great deal of resistance and felt his eye twitch. He was in a box, he was in a closed box that fit him and he wasn't able to open the lid, so either she locked it… or more likely…

"Oh she did not!" he snarled as he pushed on the lid with ever increasing force. "Kami damn that redheaded psycho bitch! She actually buried me alive!" the blond exclaimed and then kicked as much as he could… which wasn't much. He felt his eye twitch rapidly and wondered if this was what it felt like for the Titans to try and deal with him. _'No, even I'm not this bad,'_ he decided after a moment of thought.

Sure he'd mess with them, but he'd never bury them alive, that was just crazy!

"Oh screw this I want out!" he snarled then grit his teeth and formed a pair of Rasengan's in his teeth. He then slammed them into the lid of the box, tore through it effortlessly, and continued to dig his way back to the surface…

00

(Surface…)

The 'New' Teen Titans arrived to an empty, not to mention, creepy place. Looking at Happy Hands, none of them were quite sure why it had that as a name. _'Definitely not my first choice,'_ Wally thought with a shudder. Sure the place was probably a lot better back in the day, but that still didn't explain the name. _'I mean really, 'happy hands', what was helping hands already taken?'_ the redhead wondered to himself.

"Wow, it's like a cleaner version of Arkham," Artemis remarked from behind. Wally turned in surprise to see the girl looking at the Sanitarium with surprise.

"Cleaner?" Wally demanded incredulously. Hadn't this place abandoned for several years now? How would it somehow still be cleaner?! The blond idly bobbed her head, hands on her hips as she looked at the building. _'Yep, definitely cleaner,'_ she decided as she noticed the lack of insane graffiti or other little 'souvenirs' around the place.

"Yeah, Arkham is pretty much a shit hole," she replied blandly. It wasn't even that much of an exaggeration was the sad thing. Arkham was literally the place you sent people who were deemed incurably insane. That was probably why you didn't hear about people being released back into society once they were put in Arkham. Artemis herself had been forced to visit once, by her father, when he had to break that one guy out…

' _Worst father daughter day ever,'_ the girl thought with a shudder.

"That… actually doesn't surprise me all that much," Wally admitted. The stories that Robin told of Arkham had been fairly graphic after all. For Wally, the idea wasn't too out there, as he had to deal with James, AKA The Trickster, who occasionally went off his meds and went on a crime spree. Though unlike the nutcases in Arkham, James had a legitimate and treatable mental illness, he was also pretty nice when he took his meds.

' _I really need to remember to visit him later,'_ Wally internally decided. James was a really nice guy most days. He loved little things like jokes and playing darts when Wally visited him in the hospital, always as Kid Flash. He had made it a point to do so regularly so that the 'rogue' didn't go back to being the Trickster. Wally suddenly paused that thought and shook his head. He then turned to face Artemis with narrowed eyes.

"Wait, what are you even doing here?" he demanded. The blond girl had, for all they knew, been after the volatile Promethium just like all those other crooks. Even if she said she had been trying to stop Sportsmaster and Cheshire, but that wouldn't account for how she knew they'd even be there!

"What does it look like?" she replied and passed him, "I'm helping," she declared. Wally gaped at her and then looked at Kaldur. The dark skinned atlantian saw the redhead and shrugged his shoulders.

"She is quite… spirited," he remarked, "besides, given her knowledge of Gotham and its many villains, she could have some insight into this Duela, that you lack," he added and then followed Artemis. Wally felt his eye twitch then looked to Donna as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Just let it go Wally," she ordered. Wally grit his teeth then exhaled a breath through them and nodded his head. "Now c'mon, we have to find Duela," she stated firmly. With that the two friends were off. They caught up with Artemis and Kaldur and walked into the dark courtyard and looked around. Donna idly hummed and knelt down to the ground when she noticed footprints.

' _Definitely Duela,'_ she thought as she saw the size and shape of the person's foot. She idly noticed that the footprints were on some disturbed earth but focused on where they were going.

"So what now?" Artemis questioned with a look around. Donna hummed in response and then stood up and brushed her hands off. She then pointed to the main building of the sanitarium.

"Duela's that way," she stated and made her way to the building. As she did Wally was quick to follow while Artemis sighed and rubbed her forehead. As she did she noticed the footprints as well and frowned. _'Wait, why didn't she try to cover those?'_ she wondered to herself and then narrowed her eyes. _'Unless she doesn't want to hide,'_ she idly noted to herself and then looked to the building with a scowl.

' _She's playing with us!'_ she realized and then clenched her fists. It was somewhat well known that most villains liked to play a sort of 'game' with the heroes. Not just in Gotham, but everywhere in the world. And it was clear to Artemis that this 'Duela' was playing with them. Given what little she'd heard about the girl she was clearly a mental case on par with Harley Quinn, so it wasn't too farfetched that she wanted to play.

' _She really needs other playmates,'_ the blond thought as she got up and hurried after the others. Behind her, the freshly covered earth began to twitch and rustle. Soon the earth began to move upwards, before a familiar hand burst free and grasped at the air. Meanwhile Artemis, Wally, Donna, and Kaldur walked into the main building of the sanitarium, only to pause when they noticed how unnaturally dark it was.

"Could someone turn on the lights or something?" Wally pleaded. Artemis frowned and then felt along the wall for a light switch before she flicked it up. As soon as she did four lights did come on, however they were on the floor, green, and shaped like question marks on a round platform. It didn't take Artemis much thought to realize what they were, but she groaned in annoyance when she saw them.

"Oh shit it's one of Riddler's crazy traps," Artemis remarked with a grimace. While the Riddler typically used word puzzles to try and stump people, he did occasionally make more physical traps for Batman and the like. This situation reeked of one of the physical puzzles that Riddler put the dark night through. Wally glanced down at the platforms and then stretched his arms up with a cocky grin.

"Don't get your ponytail in a bunch blondie," the redhead quipped. Artemis twitched and glared at the speedster for his crack.

"Why you insufferable!" she growled while Wally ducked into a runner's stance. As he did Kaldur knelt down and narrowed his eyes. He could hear a low hum coming from the floor and idly held out his hand towards it. He felt a sudden spark and his eyes widened.

"Look just give me a sec an' I'll find us some better lights," he declared. Kaldur looked up just in time for Wally to start forward.

"Kid Flash wait!" he cried out, only to wince as Wally was thrown back by a sudden surge of electricity. The young speedster was thrown into the doors of the sanitarium and then slid down with a grunt. Donna hurried to her friend's side while Kaldur looked down at the floor with a frown. "It would appear that your Duela electrified the rest of the floor," he remarked firmly.

"So what do we do?" Donna wondered from her spot with Wally. She'd never had an encounter with the Riddler before, and Duela had never actually done anything like this when they knew her. Back then she'd been a mostly harmless prankster. Robin had encountered the 'alternate personalities' either on his own or with Batgirl. When Duela was a member of the Titans she was almost exclusively Harlequin.

There was that one Christmas party where she showed up as Catgirl, but they didn't really talk about that one…

"Ugh… well… off hand I'd say don't touch the floor," Wally remarked as he climbed back to his feet with a little help from his Amazonian friend.

"Gee I never would've thought," Artemis commented sarcastically. It earned her a look from Wally, while Kaldur idly nodded his head with a hum.

"True," the dark skinned atlantean admitted and then rubbed his chin. "The problem as I see it is that Duela is clearly here," he noted, "and if we want to find her we'll likely need to get through this room," he murmured and then looked to Artemis. The blond blinked and then raised a brow.

"What're you looking at me for?" she questioned and Kaldur turned to her fully and approached her. He then placed a hand on her shoulder and glanced at the platforms in the dark.

"Of the four of us, you are likely the most knowledgeable on the Riddler," he replied only for Wally to scoff.

"Rob's told me plenty of," he tried to say but Donna placed a hand over his mouth.

"Stories don't count here, Kid Mouth," Donna shot and narrowed her eyes, "Especially not when we both know how much Robin used to embellish them," she deadpanned. The redhead grimaced at that and gave her that much. While Robin was serious now, he used to be a pretty funny guy. Why he'd gotten a stick shoved up his butt Wally didn't know but he really missed the 'fun' Robin of old…

"Indeed," Kaldur calmly noted then turned back to the blond girl. Artemis was silent for a moment and then exhaled a breath through her teeth.

"The platforms are probably rigged up so that we have to trip them or we can't go through the room at all," she grumbled. Even if that were the case she was not looking forward to setting off a Riddler Trap. They were somewhat notorious for being lethal even on the best of days. Wally walked forward and frowned as he looked at the platforms and then a thought occurred to him.

While it was true that Artemis knew Riddler, at least by rumor or here say, he and Donna knew Duela. They really knew the girl, genuinely knew her quirks and weird antics… though one could argue that Artemis was probably better off not knowing the girl that well. Regardless, that meant he could say for a fact that the trap wouldn't be lethal, it'd hurt a lot, but it wouldn't be lethal, or maim them.

' _Probably why she used electricity in the first place,'_ the speedster realized. She could've gone for fire or heat or something else that would be painful and maim them or make the damage long lasting. Instead she went for a quick shock to the system. It was true that the shock was strong, but nowhere near strong enough to actually kill someone or do any real damage. _'Despite throwing me back like five feet,'_ he noted and then frowned.

"Hey wait a second… did the floor move when I was flung back?" he questioned of the others. Donna and Kaldur both shrugged while Artemis clicked her tongue.

"I think I heard some kind of hydraulics," she admitted. Wally nodded his head with a hum. That made sense. Duela had rigged the floor to be electrified, yes, but also to be some kind of crazy springboard maze. That meant that the floor gave a quick shock to disorientate or incapacitate, and then the springboard flung you to a safe zone so you wouldn't end up being electrocuted.

"Okay, so even if we touch the floor we'll be propelled to safety," Wally murmured and Donna breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nice knowing Duela didn't go full villain," she muttered. With all the crazy gadgets and chemical knowledge the girl had, she could be a true force to be reckoned with if she took her 'villain' role seriously. Thankfully she was too playful and light hearted to ever be anything like the Joker himself, or any of the other villains she played as… baring maybe the Catwoman who never really did much other than steal stuff.

"Tell me about it," Wally replied with a smile. He then rubbed at his chin as he looked over at the riddle-marked platforms. "You know what, knowing Duela, she probably also set up some kind of recording for us," he noted aloud. "So maybe we have to set 'em off," he suggested. Artemis rounded on the ginger speedster almost immediately.

"Are you nuts!?" the blond girl demanded with wide eyes. She knew that these 'hero' types were all basically crazy, but setting off a riddler trap on purpose was pushing things way too far! "It's a Riddler Trap! Do you have any idea how messed up it is when you get caught in 'em?!" she demanded of the redhead fiercely. Wally rolled his eyes in response and crossed his arms.

"Never been in one," he admitted, "but nothing Duela does will be lethal, she restrains herself from going that far," he replied, he was also mostly sure it wouldn't maim them. Duela was crazy but she was also mostly harmless, more so than the Trickster anyways. "Besides that it's not like we have much of a choice," he added with a frown. Artemis scowled in response, arms crossed and eyes narrowed on the ginger.

"How about we have the amazon," she pointed at Donna, "Or the fucking atlantian," she pointed at Kaldur, "both of whom are super strong throw one of us to the other side!" she growled at the ginger. Said teens glanced around the room and frowned.

"I wouldn't suggest it," Donna replied and Kaldur nodded in agreement. Artemis fixed the dark haired girl with a look.

"Why not?" she questioned.

"Because I might throw you through a wall," Donna admitted, "or onto the electrified floor, or," she began and Artemis growled in frustration.

"Alright I get it!" she grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why not fly over it then miss marvelous?" she questioned. Donna briefly wondered why she called her that and then sighed.

"Because its so dark in here that I wouldn't be able to see where I'm going," she replied crisply.

"Tear up the floor," Artemis suggested.

"That is just as likely to do structural damage to the building," Kaldur remarked, "In which case myself and Donna may survive but Duela, yourself, and Wally could be crushed under falling debris," he finished curtly. Artemis felt her eye twitch and growled low in her throat and threw her arms up.

"Fine!" the blond girl declared and rubbed her temples, "Just let it be known that I do this under extreme protest!" she declared as she walked to one of the question marks. Donna sighed and shot a look at Wally before she did so as well. The young speedster followed suit with Kaldur and all four stopped on the question marked platforms. They looked down and then around, yet nothing seemed to be happening.

"So now what?" Artemis questioned only to yelp as the platform moved. She held out her arms to center herself and keep her balance as the platforms moved towards the center of the room. The four platforms then spun them around slowly, before coming to a stop at the center. There was then a static hiss before a beam of light appeared in the darkness and showed Duela in her 'riddler's daughter' outfit on the wall.

[Greet-Greetings!] the girl declared. The projection then grinned widely as she pointed down at the assembled teens. [I'm so happy you all decided to acc-accept my invitation!] she exclaimed and then twirled a question mark cane at her side. [Now I'm sure you're all won-wondering what this lit-little gizmo here is,] she noted with a nod of her head. Artemis scoffed with a frown.

"Not really," she muttered under her breath.

[This my friends is a little puzzle I put together just for you-you-you!] she declared with a raised hand. [It's simple enough in con-concept,] she noted as she twirled her cane and then smirked. [The floor is electrified, not exactly lethal but it will give you a nasty shock if you step on it,] she began with a downward point of her cane. [Those platforms you're on will move each of you over to a button,] she continued.

[However the buttons need to be pressed in a specific order, and if you somehow manage to get it wrong, well then the floor is electrified again. While the shock might not kill you, I'm fairly certain it won't be pleasant in the least,] she remarked with a far too friendly smile. Wally merely rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Easy, we'll just stay on the platforms 'til we figure out the right combi," he began to say only for Duela to dash that hope.

[And before Wall-Wally or someone else gets some bri-bright idea, once you press your button you have to st-step off of your platform, it's a big butt-button after all, before the next button can be press-pressed. And if you get it wrong then the platforms will shift and randomly put you at a different button until you get the right order,] she explained. Wally grimaced at that and Artemis looked at him with an accusing expression.

"Alright, so maybe this won't be so easy," he admitted. Artemis snorted and then turned back to Duela as she sat back.

[Now then, when you eventually manage to sol-solve the puzzle, at the end is a clue to my next loca-location! Don't keep me wait-waiting guys, we have so much to catch-catch up on after all! Till then don't let things get you _**down**_ , just think of _**life**_ , and toodles!" the girl declared with a wave. As she vanished the teens were shifted around before being moved across the room to several bright red button panels stationed on the walls.

"Okay how do we start this?" Artemis questioned. Usually Riddler would at least give some kind of a clue about how to solve his puzzles after all.

"Just… randomly try buttons?" Wally suggested questioningly. He wasn't exactly sure how they should do this. While it was non-lethal he wasn't exactly all that thrilled with the idea of getting shocked again. Even if the floor flung him back to safety that had really really hurt!

"Are you crazy?!" Artemis demanded then scoffed, "oh wait, of course you are, you're the one who thought this was a good idea!" she snarked. Wally twitched and glared at the blond haired girl.

"Well I didn't see you coming up with anything worth while!" he snapped at her. As he did Donna palmed her face and groaned.

"Oh for Hera's sake," she muttered to herself, "I'll go first," she declared as she pressed her button and stepped on the floor. However she yelped as she was literally thrown back onto her platform after she was hit by a powerful jolt of electricity. "We-well obviously not that one," she remarked before they were moved, spun, and put at different parts of the room. Artemis swayed on her platform and then groaned pitifully.

"Well we're doomed," she deadpanned and Wally shot a look at her.

"Are you always so pessimistic?" he questioned and she grunted.

"Only when someone gets me stuck in a fucking Riddler trap!" she growled back.

"Children," Donna began with a sigh, "please behave," she finished.

"She started it!" Wally childishly replied. Artemis scoffed and glared at the speedster.

"Me? Ha! You're the one who thought it was a good idea to set off a Riddler trap!" she snarled. Kaldur and Donna both groaned as the two continued to argue. They had a sinking feeling that this was going to take a while…

00

(Meanwhile…)

Naruto growled as he crawled from the earth and climbed to his feet. He paused when he found he was wearing a new coat. It was long and purple, not really his style, but he did note a number of knives in the pockets. _'Okay this feels a bit creepy,'_ the blond admitted to himself. The coat was almost scarily similar to the one worn by that… thing… in his mindscape after all.

' _Lets see if that nut left me any surprises in here,'_ the blond decided as he searched the odd trench coat some more. _'Knives, knives, razor blade, more knives, ooh a kunai, even more knives,'_ he thought as he pulled more and more blades out of the coat. Not all of them were in the pockets of course; some had been sewn into the cloth, while others were hidden in hand made pockets where the hem had been cut.

' _The fuck?'_ Naruto thought as he examined the cuffs of the coat. Unlike his black jacket the cuffs of the purple one were fitted with an odd apparatus that had a dagger hidden away in the sleeves. The blond hummed as he pulled the sleeves down and then flicked his wrist. Instantly the dagger was flung forward and he caught it in his hand. _'Oooh this is nice,'_ the blond thought to himself as he twirled the blades in his hand.

' _Kind of like my old kunai-ejectors,'_ the blond remarked. Said hidden weapon had been a spring-loaded ejector which he'd hidden in his old orange jumpsuit's sleeves for when he wanted to pull a kunai quickly but couldn't reach his holster. He hadn't used the things very often, maybe once or twice, as they were also expensive to repair and replace, but these looked relatively cheap.

' _I might just have to ask Giz to add something like this to my new suit,'_ he considered. It'd certainly be useful on the off chance his new suit was ever damaged bad enough to disable his X-shuriken. Barring that it'd also be a decent hidden weapon he could use when no one expected it. He shook his head of such thoughts and re-focused on finding anything in the coat, then paused when he did.

It was a rectangular object with a note fastened to it with a rubber band.

' _This screams clue,'_ Naruto thought as he pulled the rubber band free and found that the rectangle had been a hand held tape recorder. He idly opened the device to find a tape already loaded, but the date was literally from more than five years ago. _'What have we here?'_ the blond wondered as he looked from the tape recorder to the note. With a click of his tongue he decided the tape recorder was more interesting and pressed play…

[ **PLAY** ]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

-STATIC-

"-Subject is twelve years old and has been noted by her teachers to be quite brilliant in the field of chemistry."

[Giggles.]

"I've won all kinds of science fairs and such! I even made a bio-chemical makeup that changes the pigment of my skin!"

[Silence.]

"Yes, quite… Subject has a history of repeated visits to the hospital due to night terror induced seizures. The latest of which rendered the subject in a catatonic state. The nature of the night terror was that she experienced her own death multiple times in a row."

[Humming.]

"Dee Dee was really nice, but I really don't want to see her again anytime soon."

"Subject also has a history of schizophrenia, often confusing her nightmares and dreams for reality. She has been put on the recommended medication for such yet it has been proving less than effective."

[Huffs.]

"I'm totally not a schizo!"

"She has, since awakening from her catatonic state, also shown signs of what I feel may either be dissociative identity disorder or bipolar disorder."

"I… actually might be bipolar…"

[Silence.]

"COOL!"

[Laughter.]

"Now then, let us begin with a simple question my dear. Can you tell me your name?"

[Shuffling papers.]

"D-Duela."

[A beat passes.]

"We both know that's not right, now again, what is your name?"

[Frustrated growl.]

"I t-told you, D-Duela Dent!"

"Really? Because I know for a fact that's not right."

"Wh-what? B-But m-mon always said…?"

"Your mother would most likely agree with me, your name is not Duela Dent."

"B-But I didn't say Duela Dent, I said Duela Kyle!"

"…"

"No… wait… Duela Cobblepot… Duela Isley… Duela Al'ghul… Duela White… Duela Napier… Duela Quinn… Duela Nashton… Duela Nigman…"

"This foolishness must stop, your name is-STATIC-"

[Loud bang.]

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!"

[Silence. Low sound of someone sitting back down.]

"…"

"…"

"… Duela Crane?"

[Sound of leather gloves as someone pinches the bridge of their nose.]

"Is this all just a joke to you?"

[Laughter.]

"I love jokes!"

[Giggles.]

"I have too after all, 'cause I'm _**The Joker's Daughter**_!"

[Silence.]

"No, no you're not."

"Wh-what… but I could've sworn mom said…?"

"Your suffering from delusions and night terrors, your sense of reality is bent and twisted but not yet broken. To truly be The Joker's Daughter you would have to be pushed well beyond the edge, beyond the point of caring, beyond mercy and into the dark abyss of insanity which you are tittering on at this moment. You are most assuredly mentally ill, but you are not the Joker's daughter."

"H-How would you know! D-Did he tell ya or something baldy?! M-Maybe I'm his secret daughter!"

[Laughter.]

"Ha, Secret! Not me but still kind of funny!"

"I can say so with impunity my dear, I am something of an expert on the matter."

"O-Oh yeah! W-well who are you then? What makes you so smart four eyes?! Huh huh?!"

"I am your therapist my dear, but most know me as Doctor Hugo Strange."

[Chair legs screech.]

"And you are not the Joker's Daughter… at least not yet."

-STATIC-

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[ **STOP** ]

Naruto felt his eyebrow rise as the tape ended. _'The hell was that all about?'_ he wondered with a frown under his mask. Something about that doctor, it really set off warning bells in his head. He suppressed a shudder as he put the tape recorder into his pocket and frowned deeply. _'Whoever that guy was, clearly didn't help her any,'_ the blond decided and then looked to the note that Duela had left him.

[Well _**Color**_ me impressed! If you want to find me, look beyond verdant hills to where one's heart lays!] The note read and Naruto frowned deeply. _'Home is where the heart is,'_ he noted to himself and rubbed his chin. _'But she really darkened 'color' so it has to… wait, verdant! That's fancy for green!'_ the blond haired youth deduced and then grimaced as he tried to puzzle out the 'riddle' a bit more.

' _Okay so a Green Home?'_ he wondered and mentally shook his head. He then blinked and snapped his fingers. _'No wait, not a 'green home' a Greenhouse!'_ he realized with a grin beneath his mask. _'Ha! That wasn't so hard,'_ the blond decided and then stuffed the note into his coat pocket and went on his way. _'Now I find the crazy chick and force her to tell me where she stashed that Promethium,'_ he noted to himself.

' _Then I get back to Giz and the others and its all smooth sailing from there,'_ he thought with a smirk, hands in his coat pockets. He paused when he saw a window and his reflection in said window. A frown crossed his lips at the joker like paint smeared across his mask. "Fucking clowns," he grumbled to himself as he walked by he didn't see the large number of rats watching him, or the little cameras that they wore…

00

(With the 'New' Teen Titans…)

Kaldur frowned as they somehow got the puzzle wrong again. _'Perhaps we're going about this wrong,'_ he considered and closed his eyes. _'Don't let it get you down… think of life,'_ he recalled and then glanced at the red terminal. "Son of a bitch!" Artemis shouted as she was shocked by yet another wrong try. She then yelped as they moved, while Kaldur narrowed his eyes and glanced up above them.

"Urg! How are we supposed to solve this without any kind of clue to the order?!" the blond girl demanded furiously. The puzzle wasn't diffuclt, far from it, the problem was that it didn't seem to matter how often they pushed the buttons, and yet they always got it wrong! They'd tried literally every combination they could think of but all they ended up with was getting shocked again!

"Screaming about it isn't helping anything blondie," Wally noted with a grimace. He'd been shocked far too many times in his opinion and the stupid springboards weren't any more fun than the shocks. It didn't hurt, but it was kind of irritating that they couldn't just hop back onto the buttons or something. Donna had, at least, started flying after the first time because she was sick of the shocks.

"Well excuse me! Some of us don't have an accelerated healing factor!" the blond girl snarled at Wally. The speedster blinked at that and inclined his head.

"Sorry I'm just… really frustrated by all this right now," he admitted with a sigh. The constant shocks were more annoying than he cared to admit. They'd gotten to the 'second' button a few times sure, but for some reason it never seemed to help. But the girl was right; she didn't heal like the rest of them. The bruises she got would stay there for a good while unlike his.

"I believe I've figured it out," Kaldur noted loud enough for the others to hear him.

"Kaldur my man!" Wally declared with a relieved tone, "what you got?" he questioned.

"Recall that your Duela said not to 'get down'," he reminded. Wally slowly nodded his head while Donna rolled her eyes. "Look up," the dark skinned atlantean stated. Wally blinked and then did as bade, only to pause when he saw a light above him. The 'light' was actually a numeric display, one that had the number '3' on it.

"The hell?" he questioned. Artemis and Donna looked up as well, only for the blond to gape.

"What?! But we've literally entered like a dozen combinations! We should've gotten the right combination by sheer random chance by now!" she exclaimed.

"The numbers change when we get the combination wrong," Kaldur responded. Artemis blinked at that and then palmed her face with a grunt. Of course they did, which meant that every time they tried to solve it randomly, when they failed the combination changed at random too! _'That makes the odds of getting the right code at random astronomical!'_ the blond girl realized with a grown.

"Then what's the code?" Donna questioned. Kaldur hummed in response.

"Duela mentioned 'think of life' and I believe that was the clue," he replied. Donna hummed and then shook her head.

"I can't think of anything that'd refer too," she admitted with a shrug. Artemis however frowned and clicked her tongue.

"Is it maybe a reference to a riddle?" she suggested. Kaldur nodded his head.

"My thoughts exactly, I believe the riddle that would answer this question is 'What has four legs in the morning, two in the evening, and three at night'," he explained. Artemis nodded her head in agreement while Wally frowned.

"Wait that answers three of the numbers, but what about one?" the redhead questioned.

"It is either first or last," Kaldur responded. He wasn't sure which exactly, but he suspected it was last, mostly because putting it first would literally be too obvious.

"Well we know the code, mostly," Donna remarked and then glanced at her friends. "So should we test it?" she questioned. Artemis idly glanced up at her number and grimaced when she saw she was four. _'Well, might as well get this over with,'_ she decided with a breath. That said she pressed the button and stepped off of the platform with her eyes closed. After a second she opened her eye and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank the lord," she whispered with a hand to her chest.

"My turn," Kaldur remarked as he did likewise.

"Bout time we finished this," Wally remarked as he pressed the button and stepped off of his own platform. That left Donna who mutely pressed her button and stepped onto the floor. A second later they watched a blinding light come on and reveal the large room, including a series of cables that disappeared down one of the halls. "Aw yeah we did it!" Wally declared then zipped over to Kaldur.

"High five!" he declared with his hands up. Kaldur mutely arched a brow and then glanced to the side. He noticed the cables leading into the depths of the building and hummed.

"Perhaps we should follow those instead," he suggested. Wally blinked, then pouted about being 'left hanging' before he looked to the cables as well. Seeing the cables a frown crossed Wally's lips and he cracked his neck.

"Alright, I'll be back in a flash," he stated then zipped off before anyone could stop him. Artemis watched with a flat expression then turned to look at the other 'Titans' with a slim frown.

"Does he always just run off like that!?" she deadpanned. Donna shrugged then flew after her friend while Artemis and Kaldur followed on foot. As they went down the hall the archer paused when she saw a rat out of the corner of her eye. She turned to the rat as it scurried away, took note of the collar around its neck, and then pulled her bow and an arrow loose. She noticed a look from Kaldur and sighed.

"I'm paranoid," she grumbled then fired the arrow at the rat. The arrow found purchase and the rat gave a sudden cry while the girl approached it. She knelt down near it and then grimaced as she reached towards it. While not afraid of rats like 'girly girls' she was disgusted by them. They were disease-carrying vermin after all and as far as she was concerned the only good rat was a dead rat.

Artemis frowned as she ignored that and pulled the collar from the rodent. Though she also made a mental note to wash her hands thoroughly later, not to mention shower, as she held the collar up. "What is it?" Kaldur questioned curiously. He was of course less versed in villains, most especially those of the Gotham breed. His friend Garth had regrettably only told him minor things of what the surface was like.

"Looks like a tech based version of Ratcatcher's gimmick," Artemis replied with a click of her tongue. Ratcatcher, AKA Otis Flannigan, was a lesser-known villain in Gotham and by proxy the world. He had a deep love for and psychic ability to control rats, sort of like the Atlanteans could command fish. Unlike this Duela however, Otis' abilities were all natural, he also wasn't insane…

"She must've taught herself to tame and train the rats around here and is using them for something," she murmured then frowned, "which means this 'Duela' doesn't just have access to A-List baddies from Gotham, but the other guys as well," she remarked with a groan. "Which means she's practically a walking Arkham Asylum," she muttered and palmed her face, feeling a headache was oncoming.

"God," she moaned pitiably, "we moved out of Gotham to get away from this kind of shit," she groaned. With a sigh she looked over the collar and then shook her head. "I can't make heads or tails of what this does though," she admitted with a sigh. Kaldur placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Perhaps it is best if we let someone else take a look," the dark skinned atlantean remarked. Artemis nodded in agreement and they hurried to catch up with Wally and Donna. They found the two at a wall the wires passed through.

"The hell is this?" Artemis questioned. Wally idly knocked on the wall and frowned at the hollow sound it made.

"False wall," he replied then glanced at her hand. "What's that?" he questioned. Artemis silently tossed the collar to the redhead. Wally quickly snatched it out of the air and looked to her with a raised brow.

"It's a collar I found on a rat," she stated with a sly smirk. Wally blinked then nearly dropped the collar with a look of disgust. As he did Kaldur walked forward with a hum and then pulled the handles from his back. With a quick move he then cut a diamond shape out of the wall. Upon doing so Donna headed inside while Wally looked over the collar with a curious eye.

"Seems like some kind of… weird tracker slash camera system with something circuits I can't make heads or tails of," the red head admitted mostly to himself while Artemis hummed thoughtfully.

"Probably your girl's variant on Ratcatcher then," she noted. Wally glanced at her and then inclined his head in agreement. What little he knew of the villain suggested much the same, but Duela wasn't prone to using C-List villains gadgets. _'This is either new, or she was holding back when she worked with us,'_ the redhead noted to himself grimly then turned around as Donna came out of the hole in the wall.

"Look what I found," she stated and held out a tape recorder. Wally blinked and snatched the recorder from his friend to look it over while Artemis glanced at it curiously. She then looked up at Wally with a frown.

"What're you looking for?" she questioned and Wally clicked his tongue.

"No idea, just kind of worried Duela might've booby-trapped it or something," he admitted. However when he couldn't find anything he instead pressed the play button on the tape recorder instead…

[PLAY]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

-STATIC-

[Loud shrieking laughter echoes in the background.]

"This is Doctor Hugo Strange, Research Data entry number fifty two, I have decided that in my research on the 'Batman' I should also know and understand his villains."

[The laughter continues, sounds of an electrical current echoing alongside it.]

"To reach this end I have decided to indulge in a little experiment with a particularly interesting child."

[Pause. The sound of a dial turning. The laughter grows louder still, echoing alongside a distinct static hum.]

"Her mind is fractured and frayed and she claims to be 'The Joker's Daughter' among a host of other villains from Gotham. Her delusions are just that, delusions, that is to be certain, but one with at least some merit given her unique background. At first I thought nothing of her, that I might assign a few medical treatments and that was all. Yet in the moment where I first spoke with her I saw such potential to further my research."

[The laughter slows as the static hum dies, and soon turns to panting.]

"She suffers from a strange combination of schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder, though I am nearly convinced that it is instead a case of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Of which I have noticed nearly half a dozen different minor mindsets, all of which seem similar to those of the famed 'super-criminals' of Gotham."

[The panting slows while heavy footfalls sound.]

"To reach my goal I have decided to find a way to forcibly shift her personalities to what I need, that way I can study each of them safely. At first I believed that all I would need was to find the right trigger, the emotion that causes her to change so quickly."

[Footfalls pause.]

"However I have yet to find any sort of trigger at all."

[Footfalls renew, the sounds of pacing.]

"At first I attempted simple hypnosis. Unfortunately her mind is surprisingly resilient to such things and it fell through. I then tried medicines of all kinds, including a few that should've increased her aggression, yet it never caused her persona to waver. I have since tried a number of other approaches, the latest of which is electro shock therapy. I assumed that pain might be the trigger."

[Footfalls pause. Low grunt.]

"Unfortunately this seems to have had little effect as she instead says that it's like 'floss for the brain'. Ironically enough the Joker has said similar, yet I am still no closer to forcing the personalities to surface."

[Pacing resumes.]

"I recall a theory from a colleague in Arkham, he believed that the Joker was not insane, but instead had a form of 'super-sanity' which made him able to, in some way, modify his mental state on a day to day basis. Changing himself from a relatively tame clown, to a ruthless mob boss, to a psychotic maniac at his whim."

[Low hum.]

"Perhaps if this theory about the Joker were true, then my patient has bizarrely acquired the same form of 'super-sanity' and gained the ability to alter her personality in much the same way. If not then the trigger for the change simply continues to elude me and more tests must be performed…"

[Sudden sound of a door slamming open. Footfalls stop.]

"Alright what's going on down here, the building has been blacking out and… My God Strange, what have you done to this patient?!"

"Calm yourself doctor, I was merely administering a little electro shock therapy to my patient."

"What?! Are you mad! This is a place of healing not such barbarism! We're not Arkham Strange, we wont tolerate you treating our patients like this! Especially when it's just a girl with schizophrenia!"

[Footsteps echo.]

"She's also bipolar, or perhaps even…"

[Footsteps abruptly stop.]

"I don't care! Electro Shock isn't going to help her, you and I both know that!"

"Now now, calm down, there's no need for that."

[Scoff.]

"I think there is plenty of… wait, what are you doing!"

[Sound of a struggle, soon the sound of something being bludgeoned and then a sudden crack. What followed was a deafening silence, before distinct footfalls mark the victor's movements. A phone is pulled from a receiver. There is a brief sound of a dial turning. A beat passes before a throat is cleared.]

"Pardon me sir, but one of your staff was unfortunately attacked by one of our more volatile patients. I'm afraid not, his neck was snapped in the struggle. No sir, I'm afraid the patient was quite deranged, I doubt he even knew what he was doing."

[A hum.]

"Yes it is such a tragedy, all he wished to do was to help him… I'll have some guards take his body to the morgue. No sir, it's absolutely no trouble at all. I'll see to everything myself, no need for you to burden yourself. Yes, do give my condolences to his family."

[Phone is hung up and the footfalls echo once more. Quite laughs twist into sobs before they stop entirely.]

"Now now dear, there's no need for that. We still have much work to do…"

[Sudden flip of a switch, the girl started to shriek and then laugh loudly as the static hum starts up anew.]

-STATIC-

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[STOP]

The 'New' Teen Titans were silent as the tape cut out. Wally looked at the recorder with wide eyes while Artemis covered her mouth in horror. She'd heard of 'horror stories' from Arkham, and honestly, this sounded like one of them. Worse yet, the girl had been in the clutches of Doctor Hugo Strange. That was not a man anyone should want to be in the care of, she knew that for a fact!

"Hera," Donna whispered while Artemis lowered her shaking hands. "Duela… to think someone would do something like that to her," the amazon whispered while Wally slowly nodded his head.

"Is it a coincidence that her trap seems to represent this incident," Kaldur suddenly questioned. The others looked to him to clarify and he frowned. "The electric floor is clearly a reference to the electro shock, the blackouts the doctor mentioned are referenced in the fact the room was completely dark, further we couldn't really move and it seems as if Duela was unable to as well," he explained.

"Yeah," Artemis admitted shakily, "definitely puts a whole nother perspective on it anyways," the blond murmured uncomfortably. She wasn't even sure if she was still mad at the girl, that wasn't the kind of experience you just up and forgot. _'She might even have some pretty major issues with doctors and electricity,'_ the girl considered with a shudder.

"It also kind of explains why she was so freaked when we took her to the mental hospital back in the day," he noted lamely. He got a look from Artemis and looked away from her, only to enter into the room they'd found. "What's in here anyways?" he questioned. He then pulled his goggles over his eyes and switched to a vision-setting that could… _'Oh… oh god that's kind of scary,'_ he thought with wide eyes.

"Don't know," Donna admitted softly mind abuzz, "I couldn't see much," she admitted softly as she thought about what they'd learned. She'd known that Duela was crazy, but she hadn't considered her doctor had made her even more insane…

"Uh… well you might want to see this," the speedster replied. Donna and Artemis both approached and then looked at him.

"What?" his friend questioned. He then pulled the goggles from his mask and handed them to the amazon. She idly raised a brow then looked through them as well, only for her jaw to slacken. "Hera," she whispered. Artemis felt her brow twitch then snatched the goggles from the dark haired amazon and took a look for herself. Much as they had, her jaw dropped at what she saw within.

The 'secret' room was in fact the room meant for electro shock therapy. Oddly enough the walls seemed to almost 'glow' with mocking 'HA HA HA!'s written on the walls. The phrase 'Light me up, Doc!' was also emblazoned at the back of the room with a downward pointing arrow leading to the chair. A number of grinning faces were also painted around the room, alongside little skulls and lightning bolts…

"Well… I think we know where all those shocks came from," Artemis muttered as she saw several wires had been yanked out of the electro shock treatment device. They had then been routed into some jumper cables, which had then been hooked to the cables that lead out of the room. She also pointedly ignored the drawing of a man's body that'd been painted on the floor with a 'frowny face' that had the words 'sad' all around it.

Donna just stepped back and shuddered while Wally took his goggles back with a deep frown on his face. He'd always known that Duela's past was probably rough, despite the girl being abnormally quiet about it. This… wasn't what he'd expected. He'd thought she'd been abused, maybe had some minor trauma, but he'd never thought she was literally tortured into insanity…

"We really need to find her," he stated. He was more than a little worried for the girl, especially when she was in this mood and had volatile promethium. He trusted Duela, to an extent, but she was still 'the Joker's daughter' in many ways for a reason.

"Yeah well where do we start then?" Artemis questioned with her arms crossed. She didn't know Duela, at all. Unlike the older 'Titans' she'd had no experiences with the girl aside from what'd happened thus far. While she felt sorry for what'd been done to her, she didn't exactly trust the girl with a substance that made most villains drool with the possible levels of destruction they could cause.

"Perhaps we could split," Kaldur began only for the other three to round on him.

"No!" they said as one then glanced at one another.

"Horror movies?" Artemis asked, Wally and Donna both nodded. "Right," the blond replied with a nod. Kaldur sighed in response and then looked at the tape recorder in Wally's hand. After a moment he reached out and opened it. The tape had something written on it.

"Bats in the belfry, no reverse that," he murmured with a raised brow. "Would either of you know what this means?" the young atlantean questioned the two older titans. Donna and Wally both blinked and shrugged in response. Artemis however snorted and then shook her head.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm the only one who gets it," she muttered. Seeing the looks that drew from her comrades the blond girl sighed tiredly. "It means 'Joker in the basement'," Artemis casually stated. This earned her some confused looks from the others.

"How does that make sense?" Wally demanded with a scratch of his head.

"Joker and Batman are opposite one another," she replied. "The opposite of 'Bats' as in plural would be a singular Joker, and the opposite of a belfry would have to be a basement," she explained as she examined her nails. "It's kind of obvious," she noted and then sashayed off.

"Where are you going?" Wally demanded.

"To the elevator I saw on our way here," she replied with a wave over her shoulder. The redhead frowned and stomped after the girl while Donna and Kaldur held back for a moment.

"They do not seem to like one another," the atlantean remarked. Donna however hummed and crossed her arms.

"Unless this is one of those strange situations where they fight because they like each other," she remarked. Kaldur glanced at her and then sighed.

"If that is common then the surface world is even stranger than Garth has mentioned," he murmured. Donna smirked in response and patted his shoulder.

"Just give it time," she suggested, "You'll get used to it Kaldur," she assured him and then flew after the two. Kaldur followed suit soon after, yet none of them noticed the plethora of rats watching them from the vents…

00

(?)

In the deep blackness of space a violet light shoots through the heavens. If one were to see it from a planet they might make the mistake of assuming it was a comet. However, the truth was that it was no mere comet that traveled the heavens this night. No. It was, instead, a girl. Komand'r of Tamaran, once Grand Ruler, now banished from her home world by her once knorka and new Grand Ruler, Galfore.

She'd flew through space without destination, without purpose, and without a plan. She had only briefly considered going to the Gordanians to seek aide, but had thought better of it. They had made her world bleed once already, they had ruined it', she didn't want to see more harm done to it. Her people were also a minor concern of course, but the Tamranean people were much more sturdy than most gave them credit for.

Regardless, Blackfire didn't know how long she'd been flying. She didn't care how long she'd been flying; she didn't really care about much at the moment. The one thing that burned in her was a desire to make Starfire and her little friends pay, but that was about it. She wasn't paying attention as she flew into an asteroid field and slammed face first into one of many said asteroids.

She impacted it with such surprise that she was left momentarily dazed. She blinked and then grit her teeth in anger as she looked at the barren dirt of the asteroid. She then reared back an arm and slammed through it with a single punch. It propelled her forward into the next asteroid, which she sent flying into another with a quick roundhouse kick. The asteroids impacted with one another and were sent flying into the others around her.

The scattered remnants of the asteroids were quick but the dark haired Kom'secrit felt her teeth grind as she raised her hands. Pure fury exploded in purple light as millions of star-bolts were sent flying from her fingertips. They slammed into every little asteroid fragment she could hit and disintegrated them. One managed to get close but she raised a knee and shattered the asteroid fragment with burning purple eyes.

Blackfire's eyes blazed as she smashed another asteroid, then another, and another, and another as they came at her. She gave a sudden roar as beams of pure heat and rage surged from her eyes and melted through one asteroid, turning it into an O that passed by her harmlessly. She then flew forward like a bolt in the dark into a much bigger asteroid, one that was hopefully capable of taking more than one punch!

Because as X'hol was her witness, she needed something to take all her anger out on!

With a growl she started to punch into the rock of the asteroid, roaring out a number of obscenities so foul even Starfire would blush. With each punch the asteroid cratered just a bit more, deeper and wider until she'd somehow carved out a bowl shaped hollow into the rock. Eventually her punches became sluggish, her Oxigen supply thinned, and she tired herself out, beating out a crater in the asteroid and collapsing to her knees.

It was only then, only there in the deepest darkness of space, alone, cold, and with no one to see that she allowed herself to finally cry. She leaned her head against the wall she'd made in her fury, and allowed herself to feel every bit of disappointment and sorrow she'd ever bottled away flow freely. In all her life there was only one thing that she'd ever truly desired, one thing that'd been denied her since birth.

The throne and to lead her people to greatness, and that was it… and now it was lost to her, forever. Lost due in part to her own arrogance, she was not too proud to admit that, but also because of her loathsome little sister, and her irritating little friends, The Teen Titans! Someday she would have her revenge, she would make all of them pay for this, for taking her home, her people, her dream, everything from her.

However… for now at the very least all the fight had left her. Instead she curled into a ball in her self made crater and cried herself to sleep. This wouldn't be the first time she'd done so, whenever her life had been too much she'd curl up in a ball and cry and… well, things happened to her. A lot. Though as she slept the asteroid she'd dug out continued to move, farther and farther away from Tamaran and the Vega System.

Farther and farther away… on a direct course for the planet, Earth…

00

TBC…

AN:

ERROR … ERROR

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ERRROR … ERROR

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

A once blurry screen changes to show a familiar girl, although she's dressed in a radically different way. Her skin is white as alabaster, not unusual, but the red lipstick she usually wears has been dragged somewhat jaggedly across her cheeks like a Glasgow grin, under whish appears to be a pair of actual Glasgow scar across her cheeks, her eyes have seemingly turned a bright nearly luminescent emerald, and her hair has turned a lush jade green.

She wears an orange corset with what appear to be studded purple briefs and buckled straps over her hips with purple drapes hanging from the sides and around her ass down to her knees, brown leather garter straps connect to purple green frilled stockings with white spats over her brown leather high heeled shoes, purple kid gloves, purple sleeves ending in green frills at her wrists with purple leather cuffs, a studded purple leather collar with shoulder-pads and a brass flower at her chest, and on her head is a purple top hat with a pair of green lensed welders goggles around it.

Oddly the girl has a cane in hand, which she idly flips into the air and then catches before she tips her hat to her camera. "Something wrong?" she asked, "C'mon, why so serious?" she quipped with a sultry smirk as she then twirled her walking stick at her side. "For those of ya who are probably a little confused about this getup, look up ' _ **Ame-Comi Duela**_ ' on Google, that'll be my outfit right now," the girl offered with a wink.

"No, go on ahead and check it out, I'll wait for ya," the girl remarked as she glanced at her gloves. She idly whistled to herself and twirled her cane, around her side and then behind her where she tossed it in the air. She briefly ran a hand through her lush green hair before she raised a hand to catch her cane. She then twirled it one last time before she slammed the cane in the ground with her hands propped on it.

She closed her eyes and hummed the tune to Deadpool's theme and bobbed her head to the beat. She paused to look at her camera and smirked. "I'm still waiting for whoever is still looking at me in this outfit," she noted and then tapped her chin, "Oh wait, you guys are probably wondering which theme I'm humming," she realized then grinned. "Which ever one you like, just pretend I'm humming to it," she offered with a wink.

She then returned to her humming and idly started to tap her foot to the beat. She then started to sway her hips from side to side and walked forward. Her head continued to bob to the beat and she then flipped her cane into the air and back flipped into the air and landed on her feet only to catch her cane with one outstretched hand, then twirl it to either side before planting it on the ground and leaning forward with a wide grin.

"Oh so you're finally back," she acknowledged and gave a tip of her top hat. "So what'd you think of my new uniform? Pretty hot huh?" she quipped and smirked, "and just so you know, yes that is my body type," she noted with a wink. "So if any of you perverts were curious about how hot I am, enjoy your pervy little fantasies," she noted and stuck her tongue out at the camera before giggling to herself and leaning back.

She then turned and twirled her walking stick as she strutted over to her desk. She then turned and sat down on her desk, one leg crossed over the other and raised her arms with her cane propped behind her neck. "Now I'm sure y'all remember back in Red-X Rising when the author made that little 'dream' Naruto had of Arkham Asylum," she remarked and then frowned, "if not, don't check it doesn't matter that much," she stated flippantly.

"Point being that the author thought this would be a golden opportunity for that 'dream' that version of Naruto had to come true," she remarked and closed her eyes. "The paint like a joker on his mask and the purple coat he's wearing, its explained in this story as something I did," she explained then paused, "barring the suit being offline since Sasuke kind of did that for me," she remarked and giggled to herself.

"Now I'm sure Naruto's gonna be pissed when he finally gets to confront me again," she noted and then re-crossed her legs and leaned back on her desk. "But plainly put I'm not overly concerned, my little joke is gonna mess with him and y'all know I just live for messing with people!" she declared with a mad giggle. Her emerald eyes sparkled dangerously as she then leaned forward and placed the end of her cane on the ground.

"Now then," she began with a yawn and then pulled her phone from her cleavage. "Lets see who our first answered review is today, shall we?" she asked with a wink and then snorted, "Oh who am I kidding, you all don't get a choice!" she stated with a nod, "My show remember!" she stated. She then glanced to the side, "Drum Roll please," she declared and a few rats started to hop on a pair of drums.

"And our winner is…" she began while also deliberately elongating it. She then paused and noticed that her rats, while still bouncing, now had wooden picket signs that said 'Get on with it!'. "Huh… a Monty Python reference," she remarked with a blink. She then saw that her baby ursa had also pulled out a similar wooden picket sign and rolled her eyes. "Oh alright you spoil sports," she grumbled and looked back to her phone.

" _ **DocSlendy**_!" she exclaimed and confetti seemed to fall from the ceiling, dropped by another pair of rats with a bag. "Congratulations Doc, you get absolutely jack save this, I am not that much of an attention whore," she bluntly commented with a frown, "or any kind of whore for that matter. Now why I'm always nervous about my origin is probably being cleared up by what you know about it thus far," she stated with a nod then moved on.

"Hey _**Kiue Jin**_ , nice to here from you again," she stated then snorted, "Heh, that rhymed! I think," she muttered with a confused frown. "First of all, the author hates any OC that is like that, he hates any OC that sort of pops up out of nowhere with no back story, no character, and nothing to contribute to the story, but especially overpowered OC's. He's been guilty of 'em himself, but he tries not to," the girl began and then tilted her head.

"Also, this is DC dude, the same world that for some reason lets Joker live, have Task Force X for some of the most deranged criminals to get 'em off scot-free, allowed Lex Luthor to run for president, believed the thanagarians and the reach were friendly, not to mention the fact that instead of the military working to make some kind of an early warning system to warn 'em of any hostile alien invasions, they instead made a super secret organization with the express purpose of defeating their own heroes and poking and prodding any tech or magic they got their grubby little hands on," the girl deadpanned.

"So please excuse the author if he doesn't feel that the average person in DC is all that bright, hell, Marvel has it's problems but at least…" she began then paused as her eyes seemed to glass over in thought, "no wait, they're worse, that stupid super-human registration act, not to mention Norman the fucking green goblin Osborn was their president for a while, ugh," the girl remarked with a shudder and a shake of her head.

"Lex is pretty bad, but at least he's still semi-sane, Norman is a psychopath the likes of which is hardly imaginable. This guy is bad news, I mean he killed Spidey's baby, that takes monstrous levels of evil, not to mention he slept with his girlfriend," she paused to cough, "Gwen," then cleared her throat, "cloned her, siched her kids on 'em, and killed the clone that was like his brother," the girl listed and then sighed tiredly.

"Anyways moving on," she sighed and flicked her phone, she then smiled when she found a review she could answer, "That's kind of the point _**LazyKid24**_ , the author doesn't have any planned pairings, he wants to sort of feel out how the story goes and then make his decision in the future," she stated with a nod. She then leaned back and flipped her cane into the air, only to catch it and slide it into the crook of her arm.

"Sorry _**Bountyhunter1977**_ , that would've been boring and really made it hard to put my 'origin' into this at all," the redhead stated with a nod, and then moved on. "Well _**zack silverstone**_ , we have no definite plans for Artemis at the moment, but I think the author kind of wants to stick her with the Titans," she admitted then smiled, "Every team needs an archer ya'know," she stated with a wink.

"And no one noticed me cause my 'awesomeness' doesn't register as anything. I don't have chakra like Naruto, I don't have Killing Intent, and I don't really have the same… presence as my dad, so of course they didn't notice me. Plus I stuck to the side of the room, while they were busy focusing on one another I was able to go around them," she explained and then flicked her phone again.

"There was a bit of respect there, _**nightmaster000**_ , and it might lead to Sportsmaster being his," she paused and hummed as she thought of a word, "sponsor, yeah that sounds right, his sponsor in the mercenary biz," she stated with a nod. "As far as 'The Light' goes, we haven't made a final decision on them, their goal was a bit too vague and it's hard to really right for them without knowing their endgoal," she noted and then hummed.

"It doesn't really work like that _**axc-o**_ ," the girl remarked with a frown, "though the Author has considered a 'Poison Ivy' based persona with the name 'Nightshade' as any other plant name would be too obvious," the girl admitted and then twirled her cane at her side. "Well I can't complain about the author thus far, like literally, I mean I'm a little concerned about my origin, but we did warn you guys it wouldn't be pretty," she noted with a slight grimace.

"You know, you might be surprised how much the author wants this story to make sense, _**shadowdragon132**_ ," the girl remarked with a smirk. "He feels one of the major faults in a lot of comics now is how 'out there' they tend to go with things. The Author prefers the simple answers and storylines as they flow better and don't fill the story with enough plot holes to make Swiss cheese jealous," she remarked sagely and then flicked her phone…

Only to twitch and then narrow her eyes.

"Oh now now, _**revan228**_ , why so serious?" she questioned a bit too sweetly, "don't ya know that I'm always laughing, on the inside anyways, though sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be laughing, like it hurts to laugh," she remarked with a giggle and then grinned a wide feral grin. "But by all means, if you want me to laugh, I'll laugh," she declared and then reared her head back and let out a loud belting laugh.

It echoed off the walls of her 'home' and caused her rats to scurry away, her baby ursa looked up from chewing on a plush toy of the Joker to stare at her. Her laughter seemed to change as she laughed, going from merely 'loud' to a soulless hollow joyless sound that sent shivers down the spine of the baby ursa. It picked up its latest chew toy and hopped behind cover, just as Duela finished her laugh and grinned widely.

"Enough laughter for you? Or would you rather I tell ya how I got these?" she questioned as she pointed to the 'scar' makeup on her cheeks, a mad twinkle in her bright emerald green eyes. She then turned and whistled to herself as she sashayed over to her desk and sat down on it. She then glanced at her phone and flicked it across the screen. She paused it at the next review and hummed softly and scratched her head.

"Oh _**Tamagat**_ ," she whispered in a sultry singsong, only to narrow her eyes, "was that a crack at me?" she questioned bluntly. She, of course, received no answer and so instead flicked the screen of her phone once more. "Hey _**NeoNazo356**_ , nice to hear from you again," the girl stated with a tip of her hat, "You know, the author had to actually look up this 'Segata Sanshiro' guy," the girl remarked with a frown.

"He might do something with it, but that might be too random, even for Beast Boy," she paused and then frowned, "no wait this is the guy who thought Red X was cyborg monkey with Robins DNA," she recalled and rubbed her temples. "Ugh, we'll definitely take this into consideration," she stated with a nod. "As for what's to come, just wait and see," she declared with an incline of her head, she then flicked her phone once more.

"Uh _**Apedreitor**_ ," she paused and looked at the camera strangely, "you do remember that Tobi was the same guy who kind of killed his parents… right?" she questioned with a blink. "I mean yeah he was annoying, but I think Naruto would hate to try and act like the guy who was the direct cause of his parents demise, even if he sort of forgives him for oh, starting the fourth Shinobi world war and the Akatsuki and the Bloodline Purge in Mist, and helped with the Uchiha Massacre…" she paused and shook her head.

"Yeah no, there is literally no way he'd act like that, ever," she stated firmly. She then moved on to the next review. "The author wanted me to say thanks for him, _**Fencer22**_ ," the girl stated with a bow of her head, "he's glad to know his work is appreciated," she stated with a smile then moved on. "Well _**V01dSw0rd**_ , the problem with that is how long it takes to get to Tamaran," the girl remarked and then cleared her throat.

"While it's never stated how far away it is in DC Cannon, we can infer that it's a decent enough distance away. Earth is in green lantern sector twenty-eight fourteen while the Vega system is sector twenty eight twenty eight," she explained and then hummed softly. "By the time the Titans reach Tamaran, any battery they put on said bug probably would've died… besides that, he didn't know they were going anywhere," she stated with a shrug then flicked the screen of her phone.

"Not really _**newboy**_ , while yes Naruto is by far and away more powerful than most common DC characters and his weaknesses aren't as blatant, he does have some pretty big ones," the girl remarked with a nod, "I exploited at least two of them in this chapter to take him out, but another is that if Batman put enough work into it he could theoretically make a chakra inhibitor to restrain him," she noted and then frowned.

"And no, that isn't outside of the realm of possibility, in the first Naruto movie a device with a similar function was used to take out Naruto nearly instantly. Remember that that was made in a world with a distinct lack of tech, in DC the chances of finding another device and calibrating it to work on Naruto is nearly guaranteed. Worse he doesn't have a way to quickly override it," she explained and then stretched her arms into the air.

"And no, Naruto wasn't being selfish, but you have to recall its Naruto himself who said that, because he feels like he was being selfish. He's lived most of his life helping others so much that he, in some way, feels like it's what he's supposed to do. Like I said a 'bleeding heart' or more accurately a major hero complex he has trouble curbing even now, it's what makes writing him interesting," the girl explained and then moved on.

"Yo _**Noctus Of The Thousand Blades**_!" Duela declared and then smiled, "Actually as far as we know Nth metal generates an 'antigravity field' not gravimetric control. It was also what allowed the 'Hawks' in the comics to fly by using an anti-grav belt, but as for the Thanagarians they don't seem to use it in the TV show. We're not sure if it needs more tech to work or not, but it sadly can't grant Naruto any of those abilities," the girl stated with a shake of her head then looked back to her phone.

"Actually _**Z.L.C. genesmith**_ , can you give the chapter the gag appeared in, cause the Author can't seem to find it. Sadly his memory is… well he can't seem to remember some things passed a week or so, they sort of blur into the background," Duela admitted with a nervous titter. She then looked to the side and cleared her throat, then flicked her phone as she crossed her legs.

"Howdy _**PugTheMagician**_ , always nice to hear from you!" Duela declared with a grin, "Aw thanks dude, it's nice to know I'm not too overpowered…" she paused and took a far away look, "though that's kind of debatable since I have basically all the gadgets and gear of any arkham asylum inmate at my fingertips on most days," she remarked with a hum and then shrugged her shoulders.

"But whatever," she decided, "The author loves banter actually, so expect a lot of it, some of his favorite heroes do a lot of banter. Spidey, Danny Phantm, and Deadpool, banter is kind of their bread and butter," the girl noted and then grinned, "You might want to look up Young Justice, the TV show, Artemis is from there, as is her outfit only it's in grey," the girl noted with a wink and then hummed to herself.

"I'm going to guess you're thinking of the 'Rebirth slash New Fifty Two' version of Donna. 'Cause if you knew how Donna originally acted, you'd know she'd never over react like that, she's probably the most level headed of the current Titans barring Kaldur which is actually kind of hilarious," she noted with a giggle, "The super strong ones are actually the ones who keep calm for once!" she declared and fell back laughing.

After a moment she sighed and sat back up with a smile.

"Aside from that, Artemis and Wally are all the insurance I need, Donna won' bring the place down so long as she has her squishy teammates to worry about," she stated with a nod. She then paused and a frown crossed her lips, "besides that she's probably a little guilty about putting me in the asylum, so she'll play my games," she assured and tipped her hat back a bit on her head.

"Hello yet again _**OBSERVER01**_ ," Duela stated with a slight bow then smirked, "would you by any chance be related to Uatu, AKA The Watcher?" she questioned and then sat back with a giggle. "Oh well I can wait, any ways thank you for your kind words my good sir or madam, I don't discriminate!" Duela declared with a twinkle in her eyes, "and no, I have claimed to be Ras Al'ghul's daughter before though," she admitted with a hum.

"Which might actually explain why I'm not dead right now," she murmured and started to kick one foot back and forth, "I mean besides the fact that Dee Dee told me it wasn't my time," she admitted and then frowned. "Oh and if anyone is curious who 'Dee Dee' is, feel free to ask that in the reviews, unless you already know, in which case sweet dreams," she stated with a wink and then whistled to herself.

After a moment she noticed a new review and hummed. "Alright one more to go folks," she declared and looked to her phone. "Glad you like the story _**Cha0ticM3ss**_ , while it is a bit jumbled at first the author admits he couldn't think of a better way to do it. If he'd made the 'twenty years later' story a separate story on its own he was afraid people would think it was a side story to the original Red-X Rising," she explained and then hummed.

"Well that's that," she declared as she put her phone back into her cleavage and hopped back to her feet, "sorry boys and girls but the Q and A is over, while the author would love to keep me around, we've got no more review," she stated with a shrug then pulled her hat from her head and flipped it in her hand. "But oh well, till next time my friends and fans," she stated and then flung her hat at the camera.

Metal blades suddenly ejected from the brim of the hat and sliced through the camera, turning the screen to static as Duela's voice echoed. "I'll be waiting," she stated then gave off a haunting laugh…

STATIC … STATIC

STATIC … STATIC

00


	12. Laughing Mad PT3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

 _ **NU**_ : _**Red-X Redux**_ …

 _ **Chapter 11**_ : _**Laughing Mad PT. 3**_ …

00

(Happy Hands Sanitarium…)

Naruto wandered a solitary path towards an atrium or greenhouse or whatever it was. The blond didn't particularly care for semantics as he approached his next clue… or Duela herself. He still had the purple coat from before, but he'd thankfully washed the paint off his mask upon finding a water tap. Why the water was still running he didn't know, but he'd been so happy to be rid of the garish paints that he hadn't really cared.

' _I still can't believe that little ball of crazy thought that would be funny,'_ he thought with a mental scowl. Sure he'd done some pretty nasty pranks to people in his heyday, but burying someone alive was a bit extreme… well… okay there was that one time. _'But I didn't burry him,'_ he internally reminded himself, _'I dug a six foot pit and then dumped wild skunks in there with him,'_ he added with a nod…

He paused at his own internal admission and hummed.

"Jeez I was kind of a dick now that I think about it," he murmured softly and then shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, "Meh, it was his fault for pissing me off," he decided with a firm nod. The number of people who'd managed to piss him off over the years was pretty high, but this was back before he became a Shinobi. Back then it took significantly more to well and truly piss him off.

' _And blaming me for one of your pranks was the fastest way to do it,'_ he thought with an angry growl. Of course this was only after the 'ring leader' had befriended him when they were still in the academy. They had, apparently, only befriended him so that they could 'admit' to their teacher that they heard him 'plan' the prank that they had pulled on the man instead and used him as a scapegoat for… needless to say, he'd been _**pissed**_.

Naruto was a prankster at heart even to this day, no one could refute that and he'd certainly never deny it. He had pulled off more pranks on Konoha than most could imagine and few could hope to top! He'd pulled pranks that had, amazingly enough, never been linked to him despite wanting some credit for some of them. He'd pulled off pranks so amazing and daring that people still spoke of them years after he'd done them!

But… despite all that, he always owned up to any prank he committed.

Naruto never put the blame for his pranks on anyone but himself. He would never stoop so low as to accuse someone else of his own wrongdoings. Even as Red-X, a ruthless thief, he would never say someone else had been in his suit or even want someone else in his suit. So when that punk and his friends decided to blame him for their ill-thought out prank he had felt more than justified in a little vengeance.

Of course he hadn't left him totally stranded out there. He'd left an anonymous tip for the AnBu on where they could find the punk. He was alive when they got to him, but the skunks had sprayed him like no tomorrow, they'd also bitten and clawed him up a bit. After that incident he was, apparently, terrified of him and skunks, but he'd been too traumatized to ever pull a prank again or speak within twenty feet of his presence…

' _And then he quit the academy and became a perfume salesman,'_ Naruto remarked with an amused smirk. While it was true he wasn't much of an 'avenger' like Sasuke-Teme, he was fully capable of holding a grudge when he felt he'd been wronged. Still that list in this world was boiled down to one person, Sasuke-Teme, with this Duela girl possibly being second given the shit she was putting him through tonight.

He paused his thoughts as he finally approached the Greenhouse. Or at least he assumed it was a greenhouse, it appeared to have holes in the roof and a number of overgrown vines crawling all over it. He also paused when he spotted some Atropa Belladonna growing near it. _'The hell is deadly nightshade doing growing around here?'_ the blond wondered to himself with a deep frown.

Shinobi in Konoha had absolutely loved using Deadly Nightshade. Naruto knew for a fact that Ino also used it in a number of her jutsu. The plant wasn't rare but it was very deadly in large doses and easy to hide. The fact that a large portion of the plant, from berries, to stems, and even petals, were poisonous made it even more useful. He'd seen a few Shinobi who laced their weapons in the stuff, and that had always been a nasty way to go.

' _The poison isn't particularly fast acting by Shinobi standards but the antidote isn't common enough to find on the field. Unless you're close to home or insanely fast it's not a good thing to be poisoned by,'_ Naruto thought with an internal grimace. He personally didn't like Atropa Belladonna that much, mostly because he hated poisons in general. There was also the fact that he'd been poisoned by the stuff when he'd startled Ino once.

Thankfully enough, aside from one monster of a stomachache and throwing up for over an hour or so, he'd been fine, but most people weren't him and didn't have his tolerance for poisons and other toxins. He'd also been thankful that he was more or less immune to the hallucinogenic properties of the plant.

But that was beside the point; he was at a hospital why would that even be growing there in the first place?

He made note of it, on the off chance that Duela decided to use poison darts or arrows or something else, and kept on his way. He meandered into the old Greenhouse with a frown as he looked around the place. It had clearly seen better days and yet many of the plants were surprisingly healthy. Naruto could see green leaves and bright blooms all around him, but hummed as he looked for the familiar redheaded maniac.

' _Now where is that little ball of crazy hiding,'_ he wondered to himself. He glanced here and there, noticing all the strange vines with a frown. _'Never seen that kind before,'_ he noted then shrugged, _'probably only native to this world,'_ he assumed. He continued on his way through the greenhouse, looking for any sign of the girl, he frowned as he exited out the back of the greenhouse.

He was now in a garden, small but surprisingly well kept with an old fountain resting in the center. In front of the fountain was something that gave him pause, a bush of blue roses, as well as a little plush doll. _'The hell,'_ the blond thought as he walked over to the bush and knelt down in front of it. The blue-roses were in bloom and looked surprisingly healthy despite being in a pot, but the doll on the other hand was a bit strange.

Mostly in the fact that it was a tiny duplicate of him in his X-suit…

' _It even has my usual coat on instead of this purple one,'_ he thought as he picked up the doll and turned it around in his hands curiously. It was remarkably well made and had a lot of detail. So much so that the suit of the little plush was oddly… well… it looked like it was actually wearing a tiny version of his X-suit. Like she'd taken material from his suit just to use it to make the little plush as detailed as possible.

Granted, his current suit wasn't that well made according to Angel, but it was still impressive the lengths she went to detail the thing. Going so far as to make the coat identical to his own, pockets and all, and even make the red glass that was underneath the skull portion of his mask. Naruto stared at the little plush doll, unsure if he should feel flattered or creeped out by all the little details…

' _Either way, someone clearly has way too much free time on her hands,'_ Naruto thought as he put the plush to the side and looked at the sign on the blue-rose bush. **[No hard feelings]** it read with a tape and small note folded beneath where the little Red-X-Plush had been a moment before. He picked up the tape after a moment and then paused when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

' _Wait a second… she wrote no_ _ **hard**_ _feelings, and left a_ _ **soft**_ _plush version of me?'_ he realized and then palmed his face with a groan. _'Kami-sama that girl is about as subtle as a sledgehammer through cardboard. Also, what is with all the word games she's playing?'_ he wondered to himself. He then shook his head of such thoughts and looked back to the tape with a frown.

' _She clearly wants me to play this,'_ he noted to himself. He considered ignoring it for only a moment before he sighed. _'It might have something important on it,'_ he admitted to himself as he pulled out the recorder from before. He picked up the note beneath the tape and slipped it into his pocket. He pat the pocket to make sure none of the many knives in his coat would cut it up before he looked to the tape with a hum.

He idly looked back to the recorder and popped the tape out of it and then slipped the new tape inside. He paused briefly to glance down at the little plush of himself as it stared at him and then shook his head. _'Great now I think a doll is watching me,'_ he thought with a sigh. With nothing else to do he then hit play on the recorder. For a moment he heard only static, before it finally picked up…

[ **PLAY** ]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

-STATIC-

"This is Doctor Hugo Strange, research log number fifty nine. I have continued my study of the strange case of my most recent patient. A girl who prefers to use the name 'Duela' for reasons even I find simply baffling."

[Sound of a chair creaking.]

"I have recently decided to forgo my original experiments. It is clear to me that whatever causes Duela to 'change' is not brought about through physical stimuli. I admit to having believed the change was due to some form of abuse or even trauma, yet it appears that that is not the case."

"Instead I have decided to go a new route with various chemical agents. My first experiment proved to be most enlightening despite its failure. I allowed Duela to locate a toxic flower known as Atropa Belladonna, or the layman term of 'Deadly Nightshade'."

[Amused chuckle.]

"I must admit that I find it somewhat ironic that despite the vast number of 'personas' she's created for herself, none of them have any knowledge of botany. My patient found the plant, and the berries it produces, and ate some without even a second thought."

[Chair creaks once more.]

"I must admit I was curious how she'd react to the plant, especially if she ate any of the berries, given how she declares so vehemently that she's the Joker's daughter, she should have at least some level of tolerance for poisons and other toxins…"

"Instead, it turns out that the girl is, in fact, very susceptible to hallucinogens so much so that she was babbling incoherently about 'monitors watching her'. I also admit a minor bit of disappointment, given how she acts and her apparent skill in chemistry, one would assume she'd have a level of immunity to toxins, but unfortunately that is not the case."

[Sound of someone knocking on the door.]

"Yes, who is it?"

"It's Nurse Greer, Doctor Strange. You asked me to come see you when -STATIC- was stabilized?"

"Ah yes, do come in."

[Door opens, foot steps sound, door closes.]

"So I take it our little one is alright then?"

"Yes we're lucky we were able to get the antidote to her in time."

[Feminine sigh.]

"But even so, she's still very weak."

[Strange hums lightly.]

"That is to be expected, she did eat quite a few of the berries after all."

"I still can't believe that Thomas planted something so dangerous at a hospital!"

"Indeed, I've spoken with the director and he's agreed that he should be let go. We cannot have such dangerous plants just lying around for anyone to find."

"Good, at least we won't have to worry about anymore patients being poisoned due to his carelessness."

[Strange stands up from his seat. Heavy footfalls sound.]

"Quite."

[Door opens.]

"Now my dear I have a great deal of work left to do, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Oh! Forgive me sir, of course."

[Rapid steps. Pause, then turn.]

"But before I forget, -STATIC- might not be well enough to see you tomorrow, is that okay?"

"Of course dear, I wouldn't want to rush the poor things recovery after all."

[Footsteps resume. Door closes. Heavy footfalls sound. Chair creaks.]

"Hmmm… what experiment to try next?"

-STATIC-

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[ **STOP** ]

The tape ended with a click and Naruto frowned to himself. _'Okay… so that's where the Nightshade came from,'_ Naruto thought with a frown and narrowed eyes. _'And that doctor clearly didn't want to help her get better,'_ the blond noted to himself and then scowled darkly. _'If I ever meet this Strange guy that's more 'en enough reason for me to punch 'im in the face!'_ he thought to himself and then looked to the blue roses.

He was silent for a moment as he considered what he'd do with the roses, but found his eyes trail to all the other plants around the garden. _'It'd be wrong to just leave 'em here like this,'_ he considered. He also admitted he wanted to get back to gardening for himself, so slowly nodded his head and then formed a couple of Shadow-Clones. The clones appeared in plumes of smoke and the blond looked up at them.

"Get those and any other healthy plants out of here, and report in to Giz and the others so they know I'm alright," he ordered as he got back to his feet. The clones nodded their heads without question and swiftly went to work. As they did Naruto pulled the note from earlier from his pocket and looked it over silently. [It's _**in firm array**_ , where are you? In a _**jam**_ of course!] the note read and caused the blond to look at it strangely.

' _The hell is this supposed to… wait a second she mentioned jam…'_ he paused and then narrowed his eyes. _'Like my jammed com system, and in firm ar… aha she means, the Infirmary!'_ he internally declared and grinned. "Ha! I think I'm actually starting to get a handle on all these little word puzzles of hers," the blond haired thief noted to himself as he stuffed the tape and note back into one of his many pockets.

He paused after a moment however when he realized that the tape had made mention of the Infirmary as well. _'I don't need pointy ears and a cape to see she's set up a pattern,'_ he noted to himself. It was almost like she was intentionally leaving these bits of her past, in relevant places no less, just for him to find them. _'But why?'_ he wondered and then shook his head. He'd worry about that after he finally caught the girl.

He then picked the plushie of himself and stuffed it into another pocket and considered what he'd do with it. _'Meh, maybe Jinx or someone else 'll want it,'_ he decided with a shrug. That done he swiftly hurried out of the greenhouse and narrowed his eyes on Happy Hands main building. _'Now to find the infirmary,'_ the blond thought as he ran to the building.

Behind him a collared rat scurried out of the greenhouse and made it's way towards the back…

00

The basement of the Happy Hands Sanitarium was, needless to say, unkempt. It was covered in the usual dust and decay of being abandoned for years. Additionally there was the number of cobwebs that seemed to spread all over the place. As the Titans made their way through the basement, Wally walked into one such cobweb with a yelp and rapidly wiped it off while Donna snickered to herself.

The redhead shot his longtime friend a look and she patted his shoulder. Behind them were Kaldur and Artemis; the atlantean was silent as he followed behind the two original titans, while Artemis looked on with a frown. _'Ugh, why do so many girls like this guy anyways?'_ the blond haired teen had to wonder, mostly because of the sheer number of girls who literally clamored for his attention.

He didn't seem especially attractive to her, but then again, maybe she just didn't see him in the right light. She also wasn't as easily impressed as most average girls, due in no small part to her father's influence on her upbringing. When you've been trained to be able to pull off the stunts she was, you were a lot less likely to see 'super-heroes' as impressive as the average citizen did.

Still, that wasn't why they were down there…

"So what exactly are we looking for?" the blond archer questioned. Kid Flash shrugged his shoulders.

"With Duela, it could be anything," he admitted. Artemis gaped at him incredulously.

"Didn't you guys say you were friends with her!" she reminded. Donna nodded her head.

"Yes, but truth be told Robin was always the one who vouched for her and hung around her," the amazon admitted. It wasn't entirely her fault either, Duela was just very… weird… she seemed bright and sunny and open on the surface, but she rarely talked about herself and deflected more often than not. What little they knew of the girl was from Robin telling them or just guessing based on her personality.

"Great," Artemis moaned as she palmed her face, "it's no wonder she's leading us on a wild goose chase," she grumbled to herself. Kaldur idly glanced at her and then walked a few paces forward to stand with the other 'new' Teen Titans.

"Perhaps you have at least some idea of what she hopes to accomplish with this?" he questioned. However Kid Flash shrugged yet again.

"Truth be told Duela just does things without any rhyme or reason," the redhead remarked and then looked to Donna with a grin. "Remember that time she stole Speedy's bow just to mess with him," he recalled. Donna frowned in thought for a moment and then covered her mouth as she snickered to herself.

"I remember how pissed he was when he found out she took it," the dark haired amazon stated with a shake of her head. "Gods what did I see in that boy?" she wondered to herself and Wally shrugged.

"He was cute and you were easily influenced by cute boys back then," the redheaded speedster replied and then swiftly evaded a playful punch from the amazon. "So violent," he stated with a tisk and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Anyways," Artemis called out and crossed her arms. "How're we going to know when we've found whatever Duela wanted us to find?" she questioned bluntly. Kid Flash frowned for only a moment then clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

"Well given that weird paint from earlier," he murmured as he pulled his goggles down over his eyes and looked around. He almost immediately spotted several arrows on the ceiling and walls with 'HA HA HA' written under them alongside a 'This way'. "We're definitely on the right track," he declared and raised his goggles back up.

"Where did Duela get that paint anyways?" Donna questioned curiously. Mostly because she'd never heard of paint that was invisible to the naked eye… then again she was from an island that lacked a lot of the more modern inventions of man's world. Wally hummed in response, arms crossed and head tilted as he considered how she got the paint. To be honest the most likely place she got it was that she made it herself…

"Not sure exactly," he admitted, "but she probably made it herself," he stated with a nod of his head. The girl's incredible skill as a chemist was her best-known trait among the original Titans. She had used said skills to surprising effect in her tenure as a hero, or more often she used them to play pranks on the rest of them. Unfortunately she seemed to like doing the latter more often than the former.

"How does a crazy girl make stuff like this?" Artemis wondered aloud. She was serious about that question too, how did a crazy girl from Jump City California somehow get the knowledge to build a home-made Riddler-Trap, produce Fear Toxin, paint that was only visible in a certain light spectrum, and the collars on those rats!

"She was studying college level chemistry for one thing," Wally admitted. Most wouldn't know that about the girl but she was surprisingly serious about school. Or at least in so much that she had passed high school and then with liberal use of the Internet managed to get a dubious degree in chemistry on top of it. He said dubious because he was certain it was one of those old scams people liked to pull…

"What?!" Artemis demanded with wide eyes, "B-but she's our age! How's she already out of college?" the blond girl demanded. She was pretty smart for her age, but she was in no way ready for any kind of college courses. Wally mutely glanced back at her; arms crossed behind his neck and then rolled his eyes.

"I said she was studying college level chemistry, not that she had a legitimate degree," the speedster replied blandly. Honestly he had to wonder why people had to jump to conclusions like that. Sure Robin was out of college with multiple degrees under his belt and Wally himself was enrolled at Central Tech, but not every hero / villain was a certifiable genius.

Duela was smart, that much couldn't be contested, but she wasn't quite _**that**_ smart.

"Oh… right, that makes more sense," Artemis breathed and let out a relieved sigh. She then paused when a noise suddenly sounded in the depths of the basement. Kaldur, Wally, and Donna looked around in confusion while Artemis shuddered and glanced around warily. She knew that sound… "Okay why is the Arkham com jingle playing?" she questioned with a frown. Wally blinked and made an oh with his mouth.

"Oh, so that's what that is," he murmured mostly to himself.

[Greetin's all!] Duela's voice suddenly echoed from an overhead speaker in a distinct accent. [Jus' wanted ter let ye' all know that X is gaining in our ikle treasure hunt! He's gettin' so close ter d'e Promethium, 'e can smell it! So you'd all better hurry if'n ye want ter catch up wit' 'im! Hahahaha!] the girl declared with a manic giggle. The speaker crackled for a second and then went silent, while Artemis blinked.

"Huh… so I guess that's the 'Penguins daughter' persona or something," the blond girl mumbled to herself. She then paused when she realized what the crazy girl had said. "Wait, this is all supposed to be a treasure hunt?" the blond questioned with a look to Donna and Wally. Both of whom mutely shrugged their shoulders in response. It honestly made about as much sense to them as anything else Duela did.

"Regardless, if the 'X' she mentioned is the fellow from Dayton Industries, perhaps we should hurry," Kaldur suggested. Artemis idly nodded her head in agreement.

"It is, Cheshire called him 'X' more than a few times," the blond replied. Donna grunted at that and narrowed her eyes.

"Good, I was hoping for a chance to bring him in," she admitted and stomped off. Artemis and Kaldur looked to Wally for an explanation but the redheaded speedster shrugged his shoulder.

"I've never actually seen her behave like that," he remarked only to pause, "… well not unless the Boogeyman is involved," he admitted with a frown.

"Boogeyman, there's actually someone who goes by Boogeyman?" Artemis asked with an amused smirk. Wally slowly nodded his head with a frown.

"Yeah he's a psychopath who like to prey on little Kids by leeching off their misery with his psychic powers," he admitted. Artemis' smirk vanished at that, replaced by a look of horror as Wally crossed his arms with a scowl. "Last time we saw the freak he'd caused two kids to commit suicide before we managed to stop him, and unfortunately he has a serious fixation on Donna and is part of why she originally left," the speedster explained.

Artemis simply gaped at him as he looked away with a decidedly uncomfortable expression.

"Anyways," he added and stretched his arms into the air, "lets go and catch up with Donna now, shall we?" he suggested. Both Kaldur and Artemis nodded their heads in agreement, happy to drop that topic in its entirety, and the trio hurried after their Amazonian companion. They eventually found the girl at a wall, where she was looking around with a frown. "Find something Donna?" Wally asked as he sauntered up to her.

"Perhaps," the Amazon replied and glanced at him with a smirk, "but I always appreciate a second opinion," she remarked. Wally smirked and brought his goggles down over his eyes and examined the wall. He saw more paint with arrows pointing down to a rectangle that'd been painted on the wall. Alongside her usual graffiti were the words 'in here' emblazoned at the sides and top of what was likely the doorframe. After a moment the speedster raised his goggles and clicked his tongue.

"Well this is definitely the place," he murmured as he knocked on a spot of the wall.

"Sounds hollow," Artemis noted. Kaldur nodded and Wally hummed. After a beat he looked to his Amazonian companion with a grin.

"Care to do the honors Donna?" he questioned. The amazon smiled in response and then unsheathed her sword and stuck it into the wall. After a moment she carved out an opening into a large room. It, much like the previous secret room, had been sealed a long time ago given all the dust and other signs of aging. Unlike the previous room however they noticed an old oil-lamp hanging at the side casting a soft glow over everything.

"So Duela's definitely been in here," Artemis noted to herself. Donna and Wally nodded distractedly as they looked around the strange room. It appeared to be a laboratory, the usual chemicals and beakers and such dotting a long abandoned table. Artemis walked to the side where she found a file-cabinet and pried it open while Wally sped over to check the vials with a frown.

The boy knew his chemicals, he had to since he'd recreate the experiment that gave the Flash his powers, and he didn't like what he'd found. As they did that Donna and Kaldur meandered around unsure of what exactly they should be looking for.

"Well now, what's all this then?" Artemis murmured as she pulled out a file with Duela's name written on it. Within she found a plethora of notes as well as what looked like ideas. Said notes were more horrifying than anything as they detailed, in disturbingly excruciating detail, every little reaction Duela had had to whatever chemical or stimuli she was put under by Doctor Hugo Strange.

One of said experiments included injecting the Joker's blood in her…

"Ugh… that's so gross," she groaned and Donna glanced to her curiously.

"Find something?" she questioned. Artemis grunted in response.

"Nothing new, Strange is as sick as ever," she remarked with a frown. Wally looked up at the blond curiously but she didn't elaborate as she read through the file.

"Well I've found quite the little laboratories worth of chemicals," Wally noted as he then reached out for a few lists and frowned. "As well as what appear to be chemical formulas for different toxins and chemicals," he remarked.

"Is one called 'Chemical four fifty three?" Artemis questioned. Wally blinked and then nodded his head. "Well that's apparently called 'Fear Gas' and Hugo Strange developed it," Artemis noted and scowled, "Unlike Crane's fear toxin however, it causes hyper paranoia and irrational behavior," she stated and then looked up. "Does that sound familiar to anyone else?" she questioned with a frown.

"The gas used by the inmate who escaped," Wally wagered, at Artemis nod he scowled. "So then the not so good doctor let her get her hands on it and bust out, but why? I mean what did he gain from letting her escape?" the junior speedster questioned as he ran his hands through his crimson hair. Artemis shrugged her shoulders in response, and then looked to the side as Donna knelt down at a shadowed corner of the room.

"You find something over there?" the blond questioned. The amazon gave a silent nod as she stood up, holding a cardboard box. Across the front of the box the words ' **Titans Together** ' had been painted in bright purple with green ' **HA HA HA** 's all around them.

"Could be a trap," Kaldur noted. However Donna shook her head as she opened the box, only to raise a brow. Within were a number of little plushie toys, one for each of them, and each had an almost disturbing amount of detail added to them. From their costumes to the 'weapons' that some of them carried on their person, all of it was present and miniaturized down enough to be on the plushies.

"It would seem that your Duela has quite a bit of time on her hands," Kaldur noted as he plucked his plushie from the box with a critical eye. "Not to mention an absurd attention to detail," he murmured as he found a few spots on the plushie's 'costume' that would otherwise be easy for someone to miss at a cursory glance. Donna hummed in response while Artemis picked the plushie of herself up and scowled.

The 'plushie' was in her costume… a costume she'd literally only just got that day…

"How good a tailor is Duela?" she questioned curiously. Wally and Donna glanced at one another and the speedster clicked his tongue.

"She personally makes all the costumes and clothes that she wears so really good in all honesty," he admitted. Artemis took that tidbit of info with a mental frown.

"Right… you also mentioned that Duela once stole Speedy's bow," she remarked as she idly started to chip at her bow's paint. Wally scratched at his hair as he stared at the blond girl as she fiddled with her bow.

"Yeah, but that was years ago," he responded. Artemis paused as she managed to chip the paint off of her bow and found some red under the grey paint and internally hummed, _'So then she stole Speedy's gear and gave it to me,'_ she noted, which also explained where all her gear actually came from. _'Which would also mean that those other arrows would be trick arrows she stole from him as well,'_ she mused.

' _Well on a positive note, now I know who made my costume,'_ the blond girl noted with a relieved sigh. Considering some of her earlier theories on that, she'd actually been pretty worried for a while. _'And I cannot help but feel so fucking glad that it was made by a girl and not by some creepy old pervert,'_ she admitted to herself. Although as she thought about it that still left a couple of questions up in the air.

' _Like how in the living fuck did she get my measurements so exact?'_ she wondered to herself with a frown. Granted from what she'd seen of Duela thus far, she also had a trim and atheletic physique, but having a similar build didn't mean they had the same measurements. _'It also doesn't explain how she knew that Sportsmaster or Cheshire would go after the promethium,'_ she admitted to herself with a deep frown.

"Isn't it kind of strange that this was all she left here," Wally noted as he looked at the box of plushes with a frown. Artemis idly nodded her head in agreement, only half listening as she was instead lost in thought. Donna however noticed something under where Kaldur and Artemis' plushies had been a moment before. Donna hummed and moved the other plushes to see a simple message scawled at the bottom of the box.

[ **In the darkness she is waiting, always watching, ever dreaming, a terrible loss without purpose or meaning,** ] she read. She frowned; wondering what that meant. She pondered that question for only a moment and then looked to Wally with a frown.

"Could you use your goggles and take another look around? I think Duela might've left us another clue around here," she asked her friend and he gave a quick thumbs up. He lowered his goggles over his eyes and then hummed when he spotted something to the far side of the room.

"Got something," he stated as he zipped to the side. He then returned with another plushie, this one holding a tape in its arms. However, oddly enough the doll was very different to the others it that it looked almost haphazardly stitched together with none of the care the others had seen. It also happened to be a doll based on Duela's 'Scarecrone' persona, thus the haphazardness of it was almost appropriate.

"Is that supposed to be Duela?" Kaldur questioned with a frown. Wally and Donna glanced at one another and then back down at the doll.

"Sort of, it's actually Scarecrone, Duela's more dangerous persona," the speedster remarked with a frown. Donna idly nodded her head as she plucked the tape from the tiny plushies arms and handed it over to Wally. The speedster started to slip it into the tape player while Donna stared at the doll.

With a click and a press of a button, the tape began to play…

[ **PLAY** ]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

Silence, the sound of a man breathing harshly, and then suddenly the sound of a door opening echoes out. The door closes a moment later and the sound of footsteps sound loudly through the room before the sound of a chair being moved and someone sitting down. Silence returns for a moment before a man sighs.

"So, care to tell me what happened out there?"

"It… it happened so fast…"

"Yeah, we've got that from the others. But I have several injured men, civilian casualties, and the mayor breathing down my neck for answers, so try and keep it simple."

"I… we were dispatched to deal with a patient at the sanitarium. I remember thinking having so many people there was a bad idea. She was probably going to be jittery with so many people watching her."

"But you didn't say anything."

"… no… I guess it doesn't matter. But then I saw her; she was in an odd getup. She came out, we were all watching her, then the civilians walked to her, then there was the gas, everything just kind of spiraled out of control after that…"

"So I've heard, but can you tell me where the gas came from? I've got conflicting reports from those on the scene who aren't sure if the girl used it or not."

"Just… I can only remember the girls parents… or… I guess they were her parents… well in any case they walked over to her, and I remember them hugging her, or protecting her… or… something… but when the gas came, I couldn't really see straight anymore."

"That's not good enough, I have people telling me they saw her toss the gas, or make aggressive moves, and others saying she didn't do anything, not to mention the camera didn't pick up jack."

"I'm sorry… I can't really help you, I just… the way she was acting in the end…"

"What about it? I've heard she was laughing like a maniac."

"She was… but… but before that, she wasn't laughing at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah… she was… she was crying, and god help me I couldn't imagine a more pathetic sight if I tried. She was just sitting there, crying over their bodies for the longest time. I think she might've called them her parents then, but it was so soft I might've just been hearing things… and then… she started to laugh."

"I see."

"No… you really don't. It was quiet at first, just a chuckle really, and then it got louder and louder… and she just laughed and laughed, and didn't stop laughing."

"…"

"I think… something broke in her, or snapped, or however you want to put it."

"…"

"But, I don't think she wanted to hurt anyone, no one in the sanitarium was hurt, they were all just scared."

"Scared, sure, but they were also injured while they were in a panic, a few people were trampled as a result of that panic."

"Yeah… I don't know… I can't really tell you anything else."

"Maybe you can, as I said we have conflicting reports, what I'm curious about is that no one saw where that gas came from."

"Yeah… but well, I thought I saw that one doctor cover his mouth before it all went to hell."

"Wait, a Doctor? Which one? From what I've gathered there were several members of the staff present."

"I… he had a weird name, but… he was also really built for a man who's supposed to be a psychiatrist, I thought it was kind of weird."

"I don't care what he looked like, just if you remember his name. The fucking press want answers we don't have and I need some kind of lead to go on."

"Yeah… yeah sure, his name was Strange… Hugo Strange…"

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[ **STOP** ]

As the tape came to a close, Wally looked down at the tape recorder with a grim frown. "Well… that explains a few things," he murmured softly and ran a hand through his hair. Duela's insanity at the very least made a lot more sense now. It… might also explain why she dated Robin. After learning his identity she'd been extremely affectionate with the boy wonder despite his distance. Maybe it was because they both lost their parents…

"That's all you have to say?" Artemis demanded. The blond girl wasn't sure how she felt about what she'd just heard. Duela was strange, she was crazy… but given what happened to her she couldn't blame her. Anyone would likely snap after everything Strange put her through. The fact that, in the end, he had somehow managed to successfully recreate 'The Joker' was horrifying.

Although at least Duela wasn't as kill-crazy as the clown-prince of crime…

"S'not like I don't have anything to say," Wally replied as he clenched his fists at his sides. Duela was his friend, not a close friend, not a personal friend, but still his friend. "I just don't know how to say it," he admitted as he palmed his face. Donna was oddly silent, her eyes fixated on the tiny doll in her hands. Her eyes hardened as she also realized how bad putting Duela in the asylum had been for her.

"We should've found someone to talk to Duela," Donna whispered softly. Wally inclined his head.

"With how she liked to deflect?" he remarked and Donna scowled.

"It would've been better than leaving her alone in an asylum," she replied firmly. Wally nodded his head and crossed his arms.

"Sure, we know that now, but back then we didn't know anything about her or her past," the junior speedster reminded his friend. Donna sighed and looked to the side while Kaldur hummed softly.

"Forgive me if this is… inappropriate, but I cannot help but note that every tape we've found has had at least something to do with where Duela was at the time," the atlantian remarked. "However, this one referred to the GCPD and not the basement," he noted. The others nodded their heads while the dark skinned atlantean looked around silently. "Perhaps there is something else that we have overlooked," he suggested.

"You mean something like this?" Artemis quipped. The others turned to look at the blond, only to pause when they saw her holding a light to a wall. Written on the wall in green paint was their latest clue. [We meet where endings begin] Artemis frowned as she looked at the phrase for a moment then shrugged. "Well, I got nothing," she admitted. Wally rolled his eyes in response.

"It's kind of obvious that she means where we started all this," he noted. Artemis groaned in response and palmed her face.

"Please tell me she didn't go to where you first met her," she pleaded. Wally and Donna both glanced at her and then shook their heads.

"No, Duela's crazy but she doesn't do anything for no reason," the dark haired amazon responded. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief at that while Donna hummed and crossed her arms as she considered where the 'beginning' was supposed to be. "Perhaps its back at Dayton industries?" she questioned. Wally frowned in response.

"I don't think so, with all the cops in town she wouldn't just set up shop right where they'd look for her," he noted with a nod of his head. He then scratched his chin and snapped his fingers as a thought came to mind. "Maybe back to the main hall," he suggested. However Kaldur cleared his throat in order to get their attention instead.

"Perhaps," he began and then stepped forward, "she meant the main gates, where we first started looking for her, and the only place we did not investigate when we arrived," he suggested. Donna and Wally stared at him for a moment and then turned to one another.

"That does sound like something Duela would do," Donna admitted. Just casually putting the Promethium out in the open like that? That was definitely a trick Duela would pull to keep something hidden.

"Right, then I guess we know where we're going next," Wally remarked and the team headed out…

00

Happy Hands Sanitarium was a very strange place in Naruto's opinion. Mostly because it was obvious that Duela had made some renovations recently. The renovations included a huge mechanical set up in the main hall. How she'd managed to build all of it on her own he didn't know, but it was certainly quite an impressive looking piece of work. Although he didn't personally understand what any of it was for…

Let it never be said that Uzumaki Naruto was tech savvy…

' _Granted, back home we didn't have much use for tech,'_ the blond admitted to himself as he traveled the halls of the sanitarium. His search for the infirmary was going about as well as anything else had sense he'd first arrived. IE, he was hopelessly lost and didn't have the slightest clue where he was going. As such he was moving down random halls and hoping he'd eventually spot the infirmary by sheer random chance.

He paused as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "I have Kage-Bunshin, I could have them do all the legwork for me," he remarked and then palmed his face. "Kami-sama why do I always forget they can find stuff for me?" he wondered to himself. It was a rather simple solution to all the walking for sure, but he'd noticed he had these moments a lot more often than he liked.

With a shake of his head he formed a familiar T-shaped hand seal and several clones formed around him. "Fan out and find the infirmary," he ordered and they shot off through the building. Naruto himself grunted and continued on his way as well with a slightly fouler mood, though in this case it was because he'd forgotten a valuable skill for information retrieval instead of Duela causing him undue grief.

' _Kami-Sama I thought I got over doing stupid shit like that,'_ he thought to himself as he rubbed his head. He'd been practicing with critical thinking with a bit of help from the H.A.E.Y.P. after all. Brother Blood had made it a point that Naruto complete puzzles and the like to increase his critical thinking ability and a number of other exercises to help the blond get over some of his worse faults while he was in the academy.

While Naruto was fairly arrogant, he could readily admit he wasn't the smartest ninja to ever live and it'd been the first thing he really worked on in the academy. His new skills and jutsu had been developed as a result of that training, giving him new ideas for how he could use his chakra. It'd made learning how to make the 'Rasenringu' slightly easier, though he was still working on that Jutsu at the moment.

' _Damn thing explodes in my hands,'_ the blond remarked with a frown. Thankfully that first one hadn't been ready to be used and so simply 'popped' when he made it. After that he'd taken to using clones in his training to try and make a Rasenringu. His primary reason for doing so was because he wanted a long-range jutsu, since the majority of his techniques were short to mid range in nature and he didn't want to be too predictable.

His father's Rasengan was awesome, but the Rasenshuriken was kind of a bitch to use…

' _At least if I want to use it long range,'_ the blond admitted to himself… _'Which is basically anytime I use the Rasenshuriken since it has a tendency to shred my arm when I don't throw it,'_ he admitted to himself with a grimace. He unconsciously reached for his right arm and then shook his head. A clone had just located the infirmary on the other side of the building and dispelled itself.

' _Huh, so that's where it is,'_ the blond thought as he turned and hurried in that direction. He also dispelled his other clones, thus learned a few other tidbits about the place though most were just odd occurrences in his opinion. He quickly put those at the back of his mind as he approached and then entered the infirmary. _'Now then, lets find where she put that jammer,'_ the blond thought as he walked into the room.

Within he found the typical medical facility, though this one was of course a bit dated compared to the one at the H.A.E.Y.P. He noticed overturned beds and wrecked cabinets and shelves, but was more interested in a laptop sitting on a counter. He also noticed a cord from it attached to a strange device on a nearby desk, but was more interested in the TV and VHS player, mostly because of the plushie sitting on them.

He approached the TV and picked up the plushie, this one looked like a girl, dressed in a stark white medical gown and shorts, with deep-red hair and bright purple eyes. The plush had what looked like tears at the sides of said eyes however, as well as a little sign held between it's hands that had the words [ **I'm sorry** ] written in bold. The blond raised his brow at that and then looked at the TV and VHS player curiously.

He idly pressed the eject button on the VHS player and frowned when he saw there was already a tape inside. He pulled it out and looked it over, found a date on the top of it as well as the words 'watch me' clearly written by Duela herself. _'Hmmm… she left a video-tape instead of an audio tape this time,'_ he mused, _'alright I'll bite,'_ he internally added as he slipped the tape back into the player.

' _Lets see what's so important about this,'_ he decided as he pressed the play button…

[ **PLAY** ]00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[TAPE BEGIN]

STATIC…

INFIRMARY CAMERA: 22:27:57

(A grainy black and white picture of the infirmary appears. There is no sound however and the picture is a bit dubious in quality. On it he sees a nurse walking towards the far bed, on which he notices a little girl. The nurse checks on the girl for a moment, before she turns and makes her way out of the room. As the nurse leaves the room the girl on the bed sits up abruptly and ducks down to fish around under the bed. She pulls out an old messenger bag and quickly opens it. She hastily removes and slips on a gasmask and checks on several glass-vials in the bag as she pulls it on over her shoulder. She then hops out of bed and makes her way to the door; she peers out quietly before she hurries outside.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: HALL B-3 CAMERA: 22:36:12

(The picture of the camera turns slowly up and down the hall. The girl from before pokes her head out of the infirmary for a moment, and then hurries out. She presses her back to the wall and shimmies her way down the hall. She pauses at a vent cover and pries the grate loose, before abruptly pulling one of the vials from her waist and tosses it into the vent. She then hurries away as what looks like gas starts to seep out of the vent behind her as she made her way to another. She quickly pulled the grate from that vent and tossed another vial into it. More gas started to seep out while the girl made her way out of view of the camera.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: STAIRWELL B CAMERA: 22:45:56

(The picture cuts to a stationary shot of the top of a stairwell. The girl from before approaches and slides to a halt at the stairs before she removes a second and third vial from her waist and tosses them both down the stairwell at different levels. The girl then quickly hurries away while someone comes from the stairwell, clearly coughing and seemingly covered in gas fumes, before looking around with a panicked expression and screaming bloody murder and curling into a fetal position as someone abruptly bumps into him from behind.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: STAIRWELL A CAMERA: 22:51:27

(The picture cuts in to show another stationary shot of a stairwell. However, several people are already running up the stairs of this stairwell as the gasmask wearing girl skids to a halt across from them. She ducks as one man tries to grab her and shatters a vial on the ground, causing a sudden spray of gas out into the crowd around her. As it spreads she tossed two more down into the stairwell while the people around her started to scream and panic. She hurried away as they did, leaving them to their fates as she escaped.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-2: ROOM-23 CAMERA: 22:58:59

(A rotating camera watches a patient's empty room as the familiar girl bursts inside. She quickly shuts the door behind her and then carefully sets up a trap that'll cause one of her vials of gas to break if someone tries to get inside. As she does she hurries over to the window in the room and pulls one of the bars loose. The girl briefly turns as the door starts to open, causing a burst of gas to fill the room as she leaps out of the window and grabs hold of a fire escape.)

STATIC-BREAK…

(The video briefly switches between several different cameras, each of which is stationed in different rooms on both floors, showing the window breaking and glass vials being tossed into the room. The glass vials hit the floor and a spread of gas nigh-immediately fills each room before they slowly spread out…)

STATIC-BREAK…

EXTERIOR: GARDEN CAMERA: 23:08:01

(The camera is changed to one that watches the garden from an angle and rotates slowly. The girl appears abruptly, looking into the camera and gives a playful wave before she drops out of sight.)

STATIC-BREAK…

FLOOR-1: BACK DOOR CAMERA: 23:11:35

(A stationary view of the door appears, showing the door from the inside as it opens and a familiar girl hurries inside. She looks up and raises a finger to her lips in a shushing motion as she hurries into the building and pulls a vial from her messenger bag. She then hurls it forward and hurries on her way out of view of the camera…)

STATIC-BREAK…

[ **FAST-FORWARD** ]

STATIC-BREAK…

EXTERIOR: MAIN GATE: 24:23:41

(A view of just outside the sanitarium appears, rotating slowly to show a number of Police vehicles outside. Visibility is partially hampered by falling rain as it cascades down over everything in streams. In the back a pair of people can just be made out speaking with a tall bald man with a beard and thick glasses dressed in a white lab coat. The two people speak to the man while the police suddenly turn, one man in particular seems to be shouting into a megaphone.

There is a brief pause as the camera pans to the side, showing the gates of the sanitarium slowly opening. There were a few moments where nothing happened; the view panned back around the police a fair few times. There was an undeniably tense atmosphere as the police waited for something to happen. Lightning flashed in the distance and the people seemed tense, all save for the bald man. Finally the gasmask wearing girl walked out of the gate, she seemed to be shivering as she saw the police.

There were a few moments where little happened, before the couple from before approached the girl. As they got closer to her, the video began to distort, static and a few tears that caused what happened to be difficult to make out. A sudden start seemed to occur, gas spread out amongst the cops while Doctor Strange ducked to the side as the police began to fire at random before one of the bullets hit the camera itself…)

STATIC…

[TAPE END]

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000[ **STOP** ]

As the tape finished, Naruto frowned deeply and narrowed his eyes. If he hadn't already felt he needed to beat this 'Hugo Strange' guy to within an inch of his life, this cemented it. The blond clicked his tongue and then looked down at the teary eyed plush. He then shook his head and put the plush in his pocket alongside the little 'Red-X' plush he'd found with the roses.

The blond then glanced around and started to open this or that, move around a few things, until he finally located a laptop. Next to the laptop was some kind of dish, the blond idly unplugged both and then pressed a finger to his ear plate. "Hey Giz, can you hear me?" he questioned. It took a moment, but then he heard his friend respond.

[Yo Temp, nice to see you disabled that jamming device,] the tiny terror responded. Naruto grunted softly and then pulled the VHS from the VCR with a frown.

"Yeah… so I'mma assume my clones arrived without incident," he murmured softly.

[Heh, if they hadn't Jinx was ready to storm the place looking for you,] Gizmo remarked with an amused chuckle. Naruto blinked at that and scratched at his head. He had to wonder why Jinx was always so worried about him; he could take care of himself after all, she didn't need to act like a worried mother hen.

"Right… anyways do you have anything on a 'Hugo Strange'?" the blond questioned.

[The fuck does that nut have to do with anything?] he demanded. Naruto grunted in response and gave a quick run down of everything he'd found thus far. The tiny terror was silent as he listened to the blond, and then groaned. [Well that fucking explains a few things,] he grumbled and Naruto raised a brow.

"How so?" he questioned and his friend sighed.

[Hugo Strange is crazy; he's a scientist with no scruples, willing to experiment on just about anyone to further his goals,] Gizmo replied. He then started to drum his fingers. [Further, the guy likes to do some pretty sick experiments. What you've described thus far fits his usual MO,] the tiny terror noted aloud. He then hummed softly as he considered the rest of what he'd learned.

[While I can't really guess what he wanted to happen, I'm going to be honest and say he's already got whatever it was that he wanted from her,] he admitted. Naruto blinked at the admission and frowned deeply.

"Any reason you say that?" he questioned.

[Cause if he hadn't he'd still be harassing her,] Gizmo replied bluntly. [It might be a bit of a stretch, but Strange is the type who won't stop until he gets what he wants. If he saw some reason to experiment on her, then the only reason he's not around right now is because he already got what he wanted from her,] he explained and Naruto scowled. He didn't know what Hugo had wanted, but he was certain if he ever met the man he'd…

[Anyways Temp, have you found the Promethium yet?] his friend questioned. Naruto blinked for a moment and then sighed and palmed his face.

"No, I'm currently on a crazy 'treasure hunt' by Dizzy," he replied. Dizzy seemed like an oddly apt nickname for the girl in his opinion. She was crazy, but more often she seemed to be really turned around and confused. Besides that, the only other name he could think of for her would be 'doll' because she liked to dress up or 'red' for her hair, neither of which fit that well. He paused his thoughts when he heard a grunt from his friend.

[Great, so she's the playful type then,] the tiny terror muttered and Naruto made a noise of acknowledgement.

"Yeah," he murmured and then narrowed his eyes. There was a bit of text at the end of the VHS, scribbled onto a card. "Also Giz, riddle me this, what takes no time, no money, and no work to get?" the blond questioned.

[Well unless its 'nothing', then I'd say a gift,] his tiny friend suggested. Naruto hummed and pulled out the plushies left to him by Duela and looked over them for a moment. He eventually found a note had been stuffed into the 'clothes' of the Duela plushie, which was also absurdly detailed, and within it was a simple, albeit crude, map of the building with a bright red X on the front gate and ' **Catch me if you can** ' written in bold.

"Hmm, I think someone is running out of ideas," the blond murmured as he put the dolls back into his coat. He then popped out the VHS from the VCR and slipped it into his coat as well. "Giz I'mma head out," the blond stated. His friend acknowledged him and the blond narrowed his eyes. "Time to end this," he stated firmly. That said he walked over to the nearest window and then promptly hopped outside…

00

(Outside…)

Wally ran out of Happy Hands and then slid to a halt. He noticed what looked like Duela seated beneath the main gate with a frown. 'So she really did set up shop out here,' he noted to himself. He then turned to his allies, only to pause when he realized that they hadn't kept up with him. 'That's not too terribly surprising,' he admitted to himself, only to then look up at a voice from above.

"Look out below!" the voice crowed. He looked up and then leaped out of the way as a familiar thief in a less familiar jacket slammed into the ground with all the force of someone dropping from the second floor of a building.

"Jeez, totally not a good way to break your legs," Wally commented idly then blinked as he saw the dust clear. The thief was still on his feet, standing up with his arms crossed and the enlarged red eyes of his mask pointed at him.

"Yo Kid Drip," the masked thief commented with a hand raised. Wally blinked yet again and then rubbed at his eyes, only to frown as he considered ways for the thief to have survived that fall unscathed. He could think up about half a dozen, with still more popping up at the back of his mind, but he ignored the lot of them. He had more pressing matters to attend to after all.

"So you're him then," Wally noted as he began to circle the thief. "The great and powerful Red-X," he noted and then hummed softly. He idly raised his hand to cup his chin and really get a good look at the thief. Truth be told he looked pretty rough at the moment, not to mention his colors currently clashed something awful. Black and Purple looked okay, but add even that little bit of red and yuck…

"Jeez Rob," he began with a lamenting sigh, "you are seriously losing your touch if this is really all it takes to beat you and your new team," he noted with a tsk. He and Donna were beat by him earlier, sure, but that was just him and Donna. A team of five should've mopped the floor with this guy…

"Oi, who are you insulting ya' ginger bastard!?" Naruto demanded with a growl. Wally gave him a sidelong glance and smirked.

"Oh no one, just the dirty old thief," he replied. Naruto growled and launched himself at the speedster, then blinked as he blurred out of existence. "Missed me!" Wally mocked and Naruto swung a backhand at him, only for him to vanish once more. "Missed again," he noted and Naruto clenched his fist with a deep scowl. He then twisted and grabbed at the yellow / red clad hero only for him to duck.

"Aw c'mon are you even trying?" he quipped before he vanished once more. _'Oh Kami-Sama he's an annoying one,'_ the blond thought to himself. "Hey, do you know a three word phrase for not fast enough?" the redhead questioned as he held up a piece of paper, Naruto growled and leaped at him, only for him to zip out of the way. "Oh wait, I know! Just too slow!" he crowed as he kicked the thief down and Naruto started to twitch.

' _Calm down, he's using your own tricks, he's trying to keep you angry and stupid,'_ the blond thought to himself. _'Focus, don't let him get to you, concentrate,'_ he thought as he exhaled a breath. He then closed his eyes and took a quick breath as he listened for the speedster. After a moment he heard a sound quickly reached to the side to grasp a first from a surprised Wally as he tried to punch him.

"Sorry Ginger, but I'm not that easy to hit," he remarked then tossed the speedster over his shoulder and into a nearby bush. Wally gave a cry as he landed in the bush, upside down, but relatively unscathed and blinked in surprise.

"Huh… pretty good reflexes," he admitted and then seemed to blur out of existence.

' _Where in the…?'_ Naruto wondered and then grunted as he was sent flying back by what felt like a fist coming at his face at mock three. _'Probably was too,'_ he admitted as he slammed into the front of Happy Hands. _'Ouch,'_ he thought as he palmed his helmet. He then shook his head and climbed out of the rubble to glare at a now smirking speedster.

"What?" Wally questioned and smiled deviously. "With how Robin talked about you I figured you could react to that," he playfully teased and Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"You seriously don't know who you're messing with punk," the skull masked thief grumbled darkly. However Wally shrugged his shoulders without concern.

"Maybe, but I do know one thing," he declared with a raised finger, then grinned widely, "you're still too slow!" he declared as he seemed to vanish once more. _'Fuck,'_ Naruto thought as a super-sonic punch connected with his sternum and lifted him into the air, followed by a another that sent him flying. _'Fuck fuck fuck fuck,'_ the blond thought as he rolled onto his feet and then inhaled deeply.

' _Right, then,'_ he thought as he closed his eyes. _'_ _ **Kaimon, KAI!**_ _'_ he thought as a sudden pressure seemed to surge into the ground around him. _'_ _ **Kyumon, KAI!**_ _'_ he internally snarled as his muscles tensed and he lunged forward at unreal speed. He kept his eyes closed as he reached out with his senses and then slammed into the speedster from the side and sent him flying away.

Wally yelped as he slammed back first into Happy Hands and then groaned.

"Ow… okay, that was a bit better," Wally admitted with a shake of his head. He then leaped back to his feet and lunged at the thief at a break neck pace. Naruto mutely lunged at the young speedster as well, and then threw punch after punch at him. The speedster managed to react with unparalleled quickness, catching each and every punch thrown his way and then head butted the blond in the face.

Naruto slid back, protected by his helmet while Wally groaned in pain.

"Stupid… he's wearing a helmet," Wally muttered and Naruto frowned deeply. _'Okay that hurt him, so why are none of my punches doing anything…'_ Naruto thought with a scowl as he raised his hand to his helmet.

"Giz, keep it quiet until I finish," Naruto began as he ducked under a punch from Wally and then landed a solid uppercut that knocked the speedster back. Despite the hit however, he still managed to get back up with a shake of his head. "I'm fighting Kid Flash and I need to know why it doesn't seem like I'm hurting him?" the blond questioned as he sidestepped the speedster who he tried to rush him.

[Kid Flash? Oh fuck a duck you're taking on an actual speedster… well in that case he's probably distributing the kinetic energy from all your punches across his body to lessen the individual impacts,] his friend replied and Naruto felt his brow twitch.

"Okay… that's actually kind of cool and insanely useful if it's true," the blond admitted to himself. It also explained how the hell Kid Flash and The Flash himself were able to take up people infinitely stronger than either of them…

"Hey, you might want to pay attention," Wally noted with a finger pointing up. Naruto blinked in response then grunted as someone grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the ground. He idly saw Donna out of the corner of his eye as the Amazonian beauty then kicked him into the air before landing a solid punch on him, only for him to vanish in a plume of smoke and a log to be sent flying.

"Was… was that a log? Wait… where the hell did that come from?!" Wally asked incredulously while Donna looked confused. She hadn't seen any kind of logs, cut or otherwise, anywhere around the building either after all…

' _Fuck Kami… praise the log! Kami may be a bitch but the log always provides!'_ Naruto thought as he reappeared on the roof of Happy Hands and looked down on the two titans. A frown worked its way across his lips as he crossed his arms and appraised the situation. _'They're actually managing to hurt me now, and it feels like they're hitting me harder,'_ he noted and then wondered what was so different from…

' _We're in a wide open space, Kid Flash has room to maneuver here that he didn't before,'_ he realized and then frowned deeply, _'and as for the Amazon, she doesn't have to hold back so she doesn't break the building out from under us,'_ he reasoned to himself. _'Out here they can cut loose, I'm fighting them like I would the other kids, but most of them don't have as much experience as these two,'_ he concluded.

"Heads up!" he heard and then rolled backwards to avoid a fist. He landed in a low crouch and narrowed his eyes as he saw Kid Flash land across from him with a smirk on his face. "Man you're not nearly as tough as Robin made you out to be," the redhead commented with a shrug of his shoulders. Naruto mutely scoffed and then noticed Wonder Girl fly up and lunge at him.

' _Time for the gloves to come off,'_ he decided as he raised his hands.

" **Kage Bunshin no jutsu!** " he declared and a clone of him appeared in a plume of smoke. The both of them then ducked back and lunged forward, Naruto leaping up to grab Donna while his clone ducked under a punch from Kid Flash and then rammed his shoulder into the ginger's sternum. Naruto then unsheathed his kodachi from the back of his waist and slashed at Donna only for her to block with her own sword.

Naruto chucked as she did, then kicked her in the side to disorientate her before he flipped them in the air and tossed her into the ground. As he did, his clone looked up and then kicked Wally into Donna's path causing the both of them to slam through the roof and into the upper floor of the asylum. Naruto landed on the ground a moment later, arms crossed while his clone stretched his arms into the air.

"That was kind of easy," his clone noted and Naruto internally groaned. A moment later the roof burst open and Donna lunged at the two of them, sword and shield at the ready and a furious expression on her face. Naruto and his clone both leaped to either side to avoid a slash from the girl while Naruto glared at his clone.

"You just had to say something," he growled and the clone chuckled nervously. The both of them then went on the defensive as the dark haired amazon lashed out with her blade in rapid swipes. Naruto grunted as he blocked each swing of her sword and then locked them together with narrowed eyes. _'Way stronger than she looks,'_ he noticed as the girl managed to slowly push him back, despite the two gates he'd opened.

Though thankfully she seemed to have forgotten about his clone.

Said clone pulled a chain, a weight, and a kunai from his pouch and then leaped into the air. He swiftly attached the chain to his kunai and the small weight and then twirled it in the air and flung it at Donna from behind. However Wally suddenly appeared and grabbed it from out of the air before pulling down on it and dragged down the clone to slam him into the ground where he vanished in a sudden plume of smoke.

' _Ugh… clones… what can you do with 'em?'_ Naruto thought with a frown as he then ducked under Donna and then lifted her with his shoulder, only to turn and kick her out of his way. The blond then landed on his feet and evaded a punch from Kid Flash, then grabbed him by his arm and twisted it, and him, into the ground. The ginger gave a cry of pain while Donna lunged at him from the air with a cry.

However as she did, Naruto felt himself grin…

' _It's been a long while since I've had a decent fight with anyone other than Sasuke-teme,'_ he noted to himself. He then ducked under the swing from Donna and then twisted around to slam Wally into the girl's side. Donna gave a cry as she and Wally were slammed into the ground, only to yelp as Naruto raised Wally a second time to slam him down bodily into the girl yet again.

' _I haven't had this much fun in a while!'_ Naruto thought with a grin as he kicked the two to the side and then felt something wrap around his left arm. He turned slightly to see Kaldur leap into the fray with a pair of water whips and grinned widely. _'Oh that's a really bad idea against me fish boy,'_ the blond thought as he turned and threw his arm forward. He inwardly smirked as he suddenly focused on his chakra.

" **Futton! (Boil-Release!)** " he declared firmly as his chakra superheated the water and caused it to explode in a shower of scalding water and steam. Kaldur gave a startled cry as he was sent flying back by the sudden shower of superheated water. Donna, who had recovered enough to stand, saw her friend fly back and hurried after him.

"Kaldur!" she cried as she shot passed Naruto to help her atlantian comrade. As she did Naruto turned and ran at Kid Flash, the ginger getting up with a groan and a shake of his head. However before he could recover from his daze, Naruto was on him, grabbing the side of his head and slamming it into the ground. He then threw Wally to the side and then hurried after him, leaping up and into a roundhouse kick.

The kick connected with the ginger speedster's stomach, causing him to gasp while Naruto then slammed both fists down into him, sending him careening into Donna and Kaldur at the same time. The three were sent directly towards the ground, while Naruto grinned nastily. _'Lets make their drop a whole lot less fun!'_ he thought as he focused on his Futton ninjutsu, specifically one in particular he'd been working on for a while.

" **Futton: Joki Bakushin! (Boil-Release: Steam Dash!)** " Naruto exclaimed as with a sudden burst of steam he was sent flying down at the three. The blond then reared his arm back and then slammed it down on Wally, who then connected with Donna, and then finally Kaldur, and slammed the three of them into the ground. The earth cracked and cratered from the sheer force of their impact.

Naruto then stepped away from them and nearly fell over as the gates finally closed, his body ached and he let out a sigh. _'God I need a better way of using the gates… they seriously wipe me out as is,'_ he thought and then shook his head. He could, in theory, get the same kind of boost from Sage-Mode, but unfortunately it took a fair bit longer to actually use than the gates.

On the fly, the gates were better to end a fight quickly…

With a shake of his head the blond instead looked to where Duela had been and saw Artemis standing there. _'Oh great… please tell me I don't have to punch her? I actually like her,'_ the blond thought as he walked over to the blond girl and Duela. However as he approached he quickly realized that it wasn't Duela herself, and instead what looked like a manikin dressed up like her with a briefcase to its side.

"The hell?!" the masked thief demanded furiously. _'Ohhh Dizzy you and I are going to have words when I get my hands on you! Very violent and painful words!'_ the blond thought furiously while Artemis sighed. The blond girl had a note clutched in her hands and an expression that screamed annoyance.

"Yeah… turns left a while ago," Artemis offered candidly and handed a letter the blond with a sigh. "Not really sure why but she says the briefcase is for me, and to 'call her for a girls night out sometime'," the blond casually commented then turned to look at the other titans. Specifically she looked at Donna, who was slowly getting back to her feet, unlike the collapsed Wally and Kaldur.

' _Nice to know the girl is the toughest one out of them,'_ the blond admitted with a smirk. As she did Naruto read the note and then frowned at a phraze Duela wrote to him. Something about it felt… off… to the blond but he couldn't really put why that was to words. Instead he closed his eyes as he thought about the phrase for a moment.

' _Lets burry the hatchet,'_ he thought and then blinked. _'Okay I might just be a little paranoid from everything she put me through today, but I'll just bet that that's a word puzzle. Only problem is I don't know what she could possibly…'_ the blond blinked as a thought suddenly occurred to him. _'Wait, how did she have a pit dug out for me, before I even got here,'_ he wondered with a start.

' _Unless the pit wasn't actually meant for me!'_ he realized and then hurried off to the side. He leaped into the pit and ripped up the box he'd been buried in to see a pair of metal bars at the bottom of the pit. _'Oh you clever crazy beautiful bitch! I take back some of the shit I said about you!'_ the blond thought as he grabbed both of the metal bars up and then leaped out of the pit. He saw Donna lunge at him and turned to give her a mock salute.

"Better luck next time doll!" he declared as he vanished in a plume of smoke, which Donna fell through and then fell to the ground with a grunt. The dark haired amazon then looked up and around with a frown as she heard the blonds voice echo out around her, "If there even is a next time…" Donna just grunted in annoyance as she climbed to her feet, favoring her left side with a visible grimace.

"I really don't like him," she muttered to herself as she allowed herself to clam down. She then walked over to Artemis with a groan, then looked at the fake Duela and frowned deeply as she looked to the blond girl. "Please tell me she didn't take the Promethium with her?" she pleaded. The archer mutely lifted the briefcase that Duela had left her and the amazon let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Athena that much went right," she muttered.

"Yeah," Artemis murmured softly.

"Something wrong?" Donna asked the blond and she nodded.

"I know you said Duela was crazy and random," she remarked as she looked from the dummy of Duela to the briefcase and a frown crossed her lips. "But I've got this really bad feeling I just cant shake… like… like something stinks about this whole set up and I don't even know what," the blond girl declared firmly…

None of them noticing the rats still watching all of them…

00

(?)

A familiar redhead sits in a dark room humming a haunting tune to herself. She has her legs crossed beneath her and her backpack slung over the shoulder of her chair. Idly she looks up and notices several turning gears with a giggle. "Why is it always gears?" she briefly wondered to herself. It was a legitimate question after all, did it have to do with time or something… or did Slade just have a closet clock fetish?

Meh, she'd worry about that later…

Duela paused her thoughts when a platter of food was presented to her. She grinned brightly at the familiar butler dressed in the pressed white suit. "Thanks Alfred!" the girl declared laughingly. However the dark haired gentleman frowned in response.

"My name is Wintergreen miss Duela," he replied crisply. The redhead blinked at that and then looked at him with a confused frown. That did not stop her from grabbing up a few of the treats he'd brought for her however.

"You sure?" he questioned and he nodded causing her to scratch her head as she munched on her snack. "Huh… I could've sworn you were supposed to have white hair and a mustache," she murmured to herself. However she and Wintergreen both paused to look to the side. A series of monitors dominate the wall. Each one shows different feeds from Happy Hands, each one detailing the 'New Teen Titans' and their abilities.

In front of the monitors, seated silently, is a white haired girl with a single eye; she silently watches the videos without comment. Her cold grey eye examines each titan and the data that Duela had collected for her. Among said Data were the files on Red-X as well as the H.A.Y.E.P. kids that made up the group he seemed to lead. The white haired girl was silent for only a moment longer before a smile crossed her lips.

"Excellent work Duela," the girl stated as she turned around in her seat, dressed in comfortable civvies, a cigarette perched between her lips, "this was honestly more Intell than I could've hoped to get," she admitted with an exhale of smoke. Duela giggled and waved off her praise.

"Aw shucks, I was just doing my job," she responded and then hopped to her feet with her hands clasped together. "So we can go out for girls night with Artemis now? Right?" she questioned eagerly. Rose Wilson, Deathstroke's Daughter, The Ravager mutely patted the redhead's crimson hair with an amused smirk.

"I'd be delighted," she replied and leaned back in her seat, "I'll admit I'm interested in a few friends who can legitimately complain about our shared… problem," she remarked with a subtle frown. Duela snorted in response and crossed her arms.

"Father's suck," she noted and Rose smirked.

"Amen sister," the white haired teen replied. She then got out of her seat and idly tapped at her chin, "so, what did you want to do on a 'girls night'?" she questioned curiously. Duela opened her mouth to reply, only to frown and cross her arms thoughtfully. She tapped her foot a few times and then her eyes suddenly brightened as an idea suddenly came to mind.

"Lets go see a movie!" she declared brightly and Rose hummed.

"Anything you had in mind?" she questioned, then frowned, "and please tell me it isn't a romantic comedy or a chick flick," the white haired girl all but begged. Duela snorted in response and then shook her head.

"Nah, there's no good ones out right now," she replied with a shake of her head, "But I really wanna go out with my new gal pal and see Logan!" she declared. Rose blinked in response and then hummed.

"I will admit that did look like interesting," she admitted. Granted she didn't often watch action movies, or super-hero movies for that matter. One she could pull off a fair few of the moves from most action movies, and two, she basically lived in a comic book so seeing comic-book movies was kind of… boring. Her real life was a lot more interesting in her honest opinion.

Then again 'Logan' had looked different from most comic-book movies she'd seen…

"Alright," she allowed and then fixed a look on Duela, "But you have to go out in civvies if we're going to the movies," she stated bluntly. Duela pouted and looked at her white haired 'gal-pal' in response.

"Awww… but I," she tried only for Rose to quickly silence her.

"Given that the Titans have likely alerted the authorities that you're in town I think it prudent that you go incognito for a while," she replied. Duela frowned in response and then let out a suffering sigh.

"Oh fine… I'll dress like a boring normie," she grumbled then fixed a look on Rose, "But you have to get Artemis to join us on our next girls night!" she insisted and Rose rolled her eyes in response. Truth be told she was actually quite interested in getting to know the blond girl. With their similar backgrounds they would either be fast friends or mortal enemies… she honestly hoped for the former in this case.

"Fine," Rose allowed and then crossed her arms, "Now go get dressed," the white haired teen ordered with a shooing motion. Duela petulantly stuck out her tongue at the teen and then ran off with a laugh. She grabbed her backpack on her way while Wintergreen walked up beside of his charge.

"Are you certain its wise to entertain her presence here?" the man questioned. The white haired teen smirked in response.

"Yes Wintergreen," she replied and then clicked her tongue, "I am not my father," she stated and then narrowed her eye. "I'm not targeting them out of a desire for revenge for my father," she stated and turned to face him, "He dug his own grave with that Terra girl, quite literally mind you," she noted and then turned back to the monitors. "I will defeat the Titans, not for revenge," she stated and Wintergreen frowned.

"Then why?" he questioned and she smirked in response.

"Oh Wintergreen," she remarked with a shake of her head, "its simple, if I beat them, then I prove I'm their better, and by proxy better than my father," she explained with an amused smirk. Wintergreen quietly hummed as the girl turned back to the monitors and clicked her tongue. "However it seems this one will be even more trouble than they are," she noted as she brought up all current data on 'Red-X'.

"The sheer number of abilities he possesses is honestly mind-boggling," Rose remarked as she bit her thumbnail with a frown. After a moment she turned with a sigh and brushed her long white hair from her face. "I'll need more data to account for him and his own little team. Until then, I'll just watch and wait," she decided firmly, then nodded to Wintergreen as she passed. As she did the white suited man nodded in agreement…

00

 **TBC** …

 **AN** :

ERROR… ERROR…

HA HA HA… HA HA HA…

ERROR… ERROR…

HA HA HA… HA HA HA…

A room appears on screen, it's rather lavish with a four-poster bed and other nice furniture around the area. A desk with an expensive looking computer rests against the far wall, and a large closet with a host of different costumes. Also within the room is a familiar redhead sans clothing, save her purple bra and panties as she hops about looking for an outfit to wear.

"I wonder if this is too mu…" she pauses and then turns to the camera, only for her eyes to widen. "Oh fuck I totally forgot!" she exclaimed and leaped into her closet. There is the sounds of a brief struggle before the girl stumbles out of her closet dressed in an open purple hoody over a green tank top that left her midrift exposed, a blue jean skirt with black bicycle shorts under it, and purple sneakers. She then quickly rushed across the room and grabbed hold of her camera.

"OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY WE HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG!" she exclaimed and then took a long slow breath to calm herself down. "Now I know it's been a while for you guys, and I know you don't want to hear this but honestly the author has had some…" she paused and then grimaced, "problems lately," she remarked as she let go of the camera and sat down at a vanity mirror.

"I don't mean the usual ones like writers block or anything," she added as she grabbed a brush and started to brush her hair, "I mean like he's literally the only one making any money in his home right now and his parents need a little help," she explained and then frowned at the camera, "you know that kind of thing," she remarked with a sigh. She then started to look around before she found a hi-tech hypodermic needle.

"Anyways point being he hasn't had much time for himself as a result, and this chapter thus took forever to write," she noted and then clicked her tongue. "Although to be fair he did rewrite this particular chapter literally five or six times with each one different from the last," she admitted. She then frowned as she pressed the needle to her neck and grimaced in a brief stab of pain.

She then dropped the needle and gripped the vanity tightly as her entire body began to shudder, and then suddenly her skin started to change. It went from the usual stark white to a more nature pink-peach tone, albeit very pale, while her hair turned to a more nature dark red than the bright fire-truck red it had been. Oddly though her purple eyes remained, but were now her most distinctive feature.

"Anyways," she began with a breath, "I'm about to go have a girls night out with Ravager, so I can't really answer any questions for you," she remarked with a shake of her head. She then frowned and glared at the camera, "and no its not because the authors too lazy to look up your previous questions, it's actually cause this chapter is long as is and he wants to move on already," she stated with a nod.

"In any case if you didn't really like this chapter well… honestly the author doesn't care, he just wanted to finally move on. He admits it's really hard to write for me, especially my back-story, as he isn't very fond of 'drama' for some reason and tries to avoid it when at all possible. That said next chapter will be the beginning of the 'ending arc' for the 'Future Tense' storyline, which I'm sure a lot of people will be happy for," she explained.

"Duela are you ready yet?" Rose's voice echoes from the door. The redhead suddenly hops to her feet and then grins.

"Almost!" she exclaimed and then turned back to the camera. "Anyways readers and reviewers I'm off to see Logan! And I'm totes hoping Deadpool shows up!" she declared with a bright smile, only to frown a moment later. "And no, the author isn't getting to see the movie himself, money problems remember, he'll just have to be sad while I go out with my friend. As always leave a review if you want, but until then all I have to say is later!" the girl declared as she ran out of the room…

STATIC… STATIC…

STATIC… STATIC…

00


End file.
